NOV  11  1910 


BX  5930  .B3  1919 
Barry,  J.  G.  H.  1858-1931. 
The  religion  of  the  prayer 
book 


/ 
THE  RELIGION  OF 
THE  PRAYER  BOOK 


THE  REV.  J.  G.  H.  BARRY,  D.D. 

AND 

THE  REV.  SELDEN  PEABODY  DELANY,  D.D, 


NEW  YORK 

EDWIN  S.  GORHAM,  Publisher 

11  WEST  45th  street 
1919 


Copyright 

BY 

Selden  Peabody  Delany 
1919 


TO 
HALEY  FISKE,  ESQ. 

IN    RECOGNITION    OF    HIS    DEVOTION    TO 

THE  RELIGION  OF  THE  PRAYER  BOOK 

AND  IN  GRATITUDE  FOR  THE 

PRIVILEGE  OF  HIS 

FRIENDSHIP 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2009  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/religionofprayerOObarr 


ERRATA 

Page  56,  line     i   read  prevent  for  present. 

Page  60,  line  24  read  should  for  would. 

Page  66,  line  18  read  of  for  or. 

Page  70,  line  25  read  reign  for  region. 

Page  78,  line  18  insert   af^rf   between   ecclesiastical 

and  national. 
Page  260,  line  21  read  nineteenth  for  twentieth. 


CHAPTER 
I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

VI 

VII 

VIII 

IX 
X 

XI 
XII 

XIII 

XIV 

XV 

XVI 
XVII 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Protestantism i 

Papalism i6 

Catholicity 40 

The  English  Reformation      .     .  57 

The  Powers  of  Local  Churches   .  74 

Dogmatic  Religion 93 

Principles  of  Interpretation  .     .  104 

The  Incarnation  as  the  Means  of 
Union  with  God 115 

The  Sacramental  System  .     .     .   122 

The  Nature  and  Number  of  the 
Sacraments 128 

Regeneration  in  Baptism    .     .     .   135 

The    Difference    Between    the 
Baptized  and  the  Unbaptized  .   141 

Confirmation 148 

The  Age  for  Confirmation     .     .   155 

The    Difference    Between    Con- 
firmed AND  Unconfirmed     .     .   161 

The  Meaning  of  Sin     ....  168 

The  Remission  of  Sin    ....  177 


CHAPTER 
XVIII 

XIX 


XX 

XXI 

XXII 

XXIII 

XXIV 

XXV 

XXVI 

XXVII 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preparation  for  the  Sacraments  i88 

The  Real  Presence  in  Holy  Com- 
munion     198 

The  Eucharistic  Sacrifice     .     .  205 

The  Chief  Act  of  Worship     .     .211 

The  Reservation  of  the  Blessed 
Sacrament 217 

Essentials  of  Continuity  in  the 
Ministry 229 

The  Priesthood 239 

Matrimony 245 

Ceremonial 252 

Fasting  and  Abstinence     .     .     .  266 


H 


PROTESTANTISM 

r  the  diet  of  Speier  which  met  on  February 
21,  1529,  the  controlhng  CathoHc  majority, 
in  conformity  with  the  directions  of  the  Emperor 
Charles  V,  adopted  a  recess,  or  decree,  which 
was  intended  to  settle  the  religious  controversy 
of  the  time.  In  substance,  it  provided  that  there 
should  be  a  complete  toleration  of  Catholics  in 
Lutheran  states,  but  no  toleration  of  Lutherans  in 
Catholic  states;  and  no  toleration  anywhere  of 
Zwinglians  or  Anabaptists.  Further,  it  was  pro- 
vided that  Lutherans  should  make  no  other  in- 
novations in  their  states.  Against  the  recess  six 
princes  and  fourteen  cities  protested  in  the  name 
of  God  and  of  conscience  whose  dictates  they 
held  to  be  above  human  law.  Those  who  signed 
the  protest  and  their  adherents  came  soon  to  be 
called  Protestants.  From  this  beginning  the 
name  came  to  be  applied  to  all  those  who,  how- 
ever much  they  might  differ  among  themselves, 
had  this  at  least  in  common,  that  they  had  aban- 
doned the  communion  of  the  bishop  of  Rome; 


2  THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

thus  Protestant  became  the  equivalent  of  anti- 
Roman. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  Protestant  was  not 
adopted  as  the  designation  of  any  reh'gious  or- 
ganization. In  Germany  the  reformers  usually 
called  themselves  Evangelicals,  holding  that  while 
repudiating  the  claims  of  the  papacy  they  were 
not  repudiating  the  Catholic  religion,  nor  ceasing 
to  be  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Later,  the  Calvin- 
ists  called  themselves  the  Reformed  Church,  and 
the  Lutherans  the  Lutheran  Church.  The  same 
was  true  of  the  English  Reformation.  While 
the  English  reformers  spoke  of  themselves  as 
Protestants  it  was  in  this  broad  sense  of  anti- 
Roman  and  without  any  notion  of  thereby  com- 
promising their  Catholicity.  Canon  Dixon  points 
out  that  much  confusion  w^as  introduced  into 
England  by  the  adoption  of  the  title  Protes- 
tant by  those  w^ho  at  the  same  time  strenu- 
ously insisted  that  they  were  Catholics.  In  this 
use  of  the  terms  the  true  opposite  of  Protestant 
is  not  Catholic  but  Papist;  and  the  true  opposite 
of  Catholic  is  not  Protestant  but  heretic.  While 
English  writers  speak  of  the  Protestant  Religion, 
the  word  was  not  adopted  as  a  formal  designation 
of  the  Church  of  England.  Indeed,  in  1689  the 
Lower  House  of  Convocation  after  "  a  lively 
debate  as  to  whether  the  Church  of   England 


PROTESTANTISM  3 

should  be  called  '  Protestant '  rejected  the  term 
as  '  equivocal/  since  Socinians,  etc.,  were  so  desig- 
nated." 1 

Of  late  years  the  attempt  has  been  made  to 
interpret  the  word  Protestant  as  meaning  liberal 
and  progressive.  It  is  said  that  the  name  Protes- 
tant "  has  survived  as  embodying  for  many  the 
conception  of  liberty,  the  right  of  private  judg- 
ment, of  toleration  of  every  progressive  idea  in 
religion,  as  opposed  to  the  Roman  Catholic  prin- 
ciples of  authority  and  tradition."  Whether  this 
is  a  true  description  of  modern  Protestantism  or 
not,  it  certainly  is  not  a  true  description  of  the 
Protestantism  of  the  Reformation  period.  That 
was  quite  as  intolerant  as  Romanism,  and  in 
Germany  adopted  the  principle  of  State  suprem- 
acy by  which  the  religion  of  the  subject  followed 
the  religion  of  the  sovereign  —  on  the  sovereign's 
adoption  of  any  religion,  that  became  at  once  the 
religion  of  the  subject;  so  that  the  protest  of  the 
Reformation  was,  as  has  been  said,  *'  a  protest. 
not  for  the  subjects'  freedom  to  choose,  but  for 
the  sovereign's  to  prescribe." 

We  may  take  it  for  granted  that  in  documents 
of  the  eighteenth  century  the  word  Protestant 
will  be  used  in  the  broad  sense  of  anti-Roman, 
thus  affording  a  common  designation  for  many 

1  MacColl,  "  The  Reformation  Settlement,"  p.  359- 


4  THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

religious  bodies  which  on  theological  grounds 
would  be  found  to  be  sharply  divided.  It  was  in 
this  sense  that  the  Church  of  England  and  her 
offspring  —  the  Colonial  Churches  —  came  to  be 
thought  of  as  Protestant. 

But  is  the  word  Protestant  a  purely  negative 
word?  Has  it  no  positive  connotation?  Al- 
though at  first  sight  the  religious  bodies  that  is- 
sued from  the  Reformation  seem  to  have  little  in 
common  save  their  denials  of  the  Catholic  faith, 
yet  there  are  certain  fundamental  theological  posi- 
tions in  which  they  agree  and  which  we  may  take 
to  be  the  positive  connotation  of  the  word  Protes- 
tant. I  will  state  them  in  the  words  of  Dr. 
Schaff: 

"  There  are  three  fundamental  principles  of  the 
Reformation :  the  supremacy  of  the  Scriptures 
over  tradition,  the  supremacy  of  faith  over  works, 
the  supremacy  of  the  Christian  people  over  an 
exclusive  priesthood."  ^ 

If  Protestant  is  understood  in  the  sense  of 
protest  against  the  errors  and  abuses  of  the  Pa- 
pacy, the  Anglican  Church  and  its  daughter 
Churches  may  be  called  Protestant;  but  it  is  an- 
other matter  if  Protestant  is  to  be  understood  as 
affirmative  of  the  "  fundamental  principles  of 
the  Reformation  "  as  stated  by  Dr.  Schaff  or  of 
1 "  History  of  the  Christian  Church,"  vol.  VI,  p.  i6. 


PROTESTANTISM  '5 

any  other  set  of  theological  affirmations.  In  that 
case  the  formularies  of  the  Anglican  Church  must 
be  studied  with  a  view  to  ascertaining  whether 
their  theological  system  is  indeed  Protestant,  i.  e., 
in  agreement  with  the  theology  of  the  leaders  of 
the  Continental  Reformation. 

As  Dr.  Schaff's  three  principles  seem  to  cover 
the  ground  pretty  thoroughly,  let  us  test  the  al- 
leged Protestantism  of  the  American  Church  by 
its  agreement  or  disagreement  with  them.  Of 
course  the  position  of  the  American  Church  is 
that  of  the  English  Church  unless  it  has  explicitly 
abandoned  it.  The  first  Protestant  principle, 
the  supremacy  of  Scripture,  is  another  way  of 
stating  the  right  of  private  judgment.  It  does 
not  mean,  to  be  accurate,  the  supremacy  of  Scrip- 
ture, but  the  supremacy  of  the  individual.  What 
the  Scripture  means  will  be  what  in  the  judgment 
of  the  individual  interpreter  it  means,  and  there 
will  be  no  external  check  or  rein.  One  would 
have  thought  that  this  would  at  least  have  made 
for  humility  and  that  each  interpreter,  feeling  that 
his  was  a  private  interpretation,  would  have  de- 
clined to  impose  it  on  anyone  else,  inasmuch  as 
others  were  free  to  make  their  own  interpretation. 
But  not  so.  The  history  of  Protestantism  is  the 
history  of  individual  attempts  to  force  private 
interpretations  of  Scripture  on  the  world  as  being 


6  THE   RELIGION   OF  THE   PRAYER   BOOK 

the  exclusive  Gospel.  This  aspect  of  the  Refor- 
mation is  well  symbolized  by  the  Marburg  Con- 
ference —  the  leading  Reformers  seated  about  the 
table  unable  to  agree  in  their  interpretation  of 
Scripture  —  the  Scripture  that  they  had  pro- 
claimed supreme  —  and  thus  demonstrating  the 
unworkableness  of  their  principle! 

In  contrast  with  the  Protestant  position  the 
formularies  of  the  English  Church  assert  that  the 
rule  of  faith  is  the  Holy  Scripture  as  interpreted 
by  the  Church.  That  is,  it  treats  the  Christian 
religion  not  as  a  secret  hid  in  a  book  which  each 
man  must  find  out  for  himself,  but  as  an  historic 
faith  coming  to  a  man  with  the  voice  of  author- 
ity. A  man  might,  indeed  ought,  to  test  this 
faith,  but  he  is  to  test  it,  not  by  its  agreement  with 
his  own  private  judgment,  but  by  its  agreement 
with  Scripture  as  interpreted  by  antiquity. 

For  example:  The  Ten  Articles  of  1536  say, 
"  As  touching  the  chief  and  principal  articles  of 
our  faith  .  .  .  they  ought  and  must  most  con- 
stantly believe  and  defend  all  those  things  to  be 
true,  which  be  comprehended  in  the  whole  body 
and  canon  of  the  Bible,  and  also  in  the  three 
Creeds  .  .  .  and  that  they  ought  and  must  take 
and  interpret  all  the  same  things  according  to  the 
selfsame  sentence  and  interpretation,  what  the 
words  of  the  selfsame  creeds  or  symbols  do  pur- 


PROTESTANTISM  ^ 

port,  and  the  holy  approved  doctors  of  the  Church 
do  entreat  and  defend  the  same." 

The  act  of  Supremacy  of  EHzabeth,  1559, 
provides  that  the  Court  of  High  Commission 
*'  shall  not  in  any  wise  have  authority  or  power 
to  order,  determine,  or  adjudge  any  matter  or 
cause  to  be  heresy,  but  only  such  as  heretofore 
have  been  determined,  ordered,  or  adjudged  to 
be  heresy,  by  the  authority  of  the  Canonical 
Scriptures,  or  by  the  first  four  general  Councils, 
or  any  of  them,  or  by  any  other  general  council 
wherein  the  same  was  declared  heresy  by  the  ex- 
press and  plain  words  of  the  said  canonical  Scrip- 
tures," etc. 

Canon  VI,  of  the  Canons  of  1571,  orders 
preachers  to  "  see  to  it  that  they  teach  nothing  in 
the  way  of  a  sermon  .  .  .  save  what  is  agreeable 
to  the  teaching  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
and  what  the  Catholic  fathers  and  ancient  bishops 
have  collected  from  the  selfsame  doctrine."  ^ 

Finally  the  Sixth  of  the  Thirty-nine  Articles, 
contrary  to  the  Protestant  principle  which  makes 
the  individual  the  judge  of  what  is  Scripture,  set- 
tled the  canon  on  the  authority  of  the  Church. 
It  declares  that  "  Holy  Scripture  contains  all 
things  necessary  to  salvation:  so  that  whatever 

1  Gee    &    Hardy,    "  Documents    Illustrative    of    English 
Church  History."    New  York,  Macmillan  &  Co.,  1896. 


8  THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

is  not  read  therein,  nor  may  be  proved  thereby,  is 
not  to  be  required  of  any  man,  that  it  shall  be 
believed,"  etc.,  where  it  is  obvious  that  the  author- 
ity which  is  to  "  prove  "  doctrine  from  Scripture 
is  the  Church  itself.  In  fact,  nothing  can  be  fur- 
ther removed  from  the  Protestant  principle  of  the 
supremacy  of  the  individual  than  the  Church  of 
England  principle  of  the  authority  of  the  inter- 
pretative tradition  of  the  Church. 

The  second  of  Dr.  Schaff's  principles  is  the 
supremacy  of  faith  over  works.  It  would  be  bet- 
ter to  state  it  as  the  doctrine  of  justification  by 
faith  only.  This  is  the  very  corner-stone  of  the 
Protestant  Reformation  and  is  the  most  revolu- 
tionary doctrine  ever  introduced  into  the  Church. 
If  held  in  the  sense  in  which  Luther  taught  it,  it 
makes  the  Church  and  sacraments  not  only  un- 
necessary but  unintelligible.  The  Christian  has 
but  to  believe,  that  is  to  give  an  intellectual  assent 
to,  the  promises  of  God  in  Christ,  and  he  is  ac- 
cepted of  God  and  the  merits  of  Christ  are  im- 
parted to  him  :  he  is  saved.  "  Faith  only  "  makes 
the  old  historic  Christian  system  an  impertinence. 
That  this  doctrine  was  not  adopted  by  the  Eng- 
lish Reformers  is  obvious  from  the  stress  laid  on 
Church  and  sacraments  in  all  the  formal  teaching 
of  the  Church.  The  Eleventh  of  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles  does,  it  is  true,  appear  to  accept  the  Lu- 


PROTESTANTISM  9 

theran  doctrine,  but  an  analysis  of  the  article 
shows  that  the  term  "  faith  only  "  is  not  used  in 
the  Lutheran  sense  of  mere  assent,  and  is  not 
given  the  exclusive  place  in  the  working  of  justi- 
fication which  is  given  it  in  the  Lutheran  system.^ 
The  third  great  principle  of  Protestantism  is 
the  assertion  of  the  priesthood  of  the  laity, —  or, 
as  it  might  better  be  expressed,  the  denial  of  any 
other  priesthood  than  the  universal  priesthood  of 
Christians.  That  every  Christian  is  in  a  true 
sense  a  priest  with  right  of  access  to  God  is  in- 
deed a  fundamental  truth  of  the  Christian  reli- 
gion. He  partakes  of  the  priesthood  of  Christ 
in  whom  he  is.  It  is  also  true  that  he  is  a  king 
by  virtue  of  his  participation  in  the  royalty  of  his 
risen  Head.  But  if  his  royalty  is  not  of  such 
a  nature  as  to  render  the  existence  of  magistrates 
and  his  subjection  to  them  impossible,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  see  how  the  fact  of  his  priesthood  renders 
impossible  or  unnecessary  that  there  should  be 
any  other  priesthood  in  the  Church.  Nor,  I 
suppose,  has  any  Protestant  ever  argued  that  be- 
cause all  Christians  are  prophets  (as  they  surely 
are)  the  office  of  preacher  should  be  abolished. 
Certainly  the  Anglican  Church  has  never  seen 
any  incongruity  between  the  priesthood  of  the 

iKidd,   "The  Thirty-nine   Articles."    New   York,   Gor- 
ham,  1906. 


lO        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

laity  and  the  existence  of  an  official  separate 
priesthood.  It  conceives  the  Christian  Church  as 
the  Body  of  Christ,  and  understands  that  powers 
belonging  to  the  Body  as  such  must  still  be  exer- 
cised through  special  organs.  Hence  the  exist- 
ence of  its  ordinal  and  the  exclusive  appropriation 
of  certain  acts  to  those  v^ho  have  been  ordained 
priests. 

We  conclude  then  that  while  in  the  broad  sense 
of  historic  opposition  to  the  abuses  that  centred 
about  the  papal  system  the  Church  to  which  we 
belong  may  be  called  Protestant,  it  cannot  rightly 
be  so  called  if  what  is  implied  by  the  w^ord  is  theo- 
logical sympathy  with  the  Continental  Reformers. 
The  theology  embodied  in  the  formal  documents 
of  the  Church  of  England,  and  especially  in  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  is  quite  the  reverse  of 
Protestant. 

How,  then,  did  the  Church  in  the  United  States 
come  to  place  the  word  Protestant  on  the  title- 
page  of  the  Prayer  Book?  Is  there  any  clue  to 
the  sense  in  which  the  word  is  there  used  ? 

During  the  Colonial  period  the  Church,  of 
which  the  legal  title  was  the  Church  of  England, 
seems  to  have  been  colloquially  known  as  the 
Episcopal  Church.  To  this,  in  Maryland  at  least, 
Protestant  was  added.  After  the  breaking  out 
of  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  there  was  an  act 


PROTESTANTISM  IT 

passed  by  the  Maryland  legislature  in  1779  in- 
tended to  secure  the  rights  of  the  Church  to  its 
property,  etc.,  in  which  it  is  entitled  the  Protes- 
tant Episcopal  Church  and  its  continuity  with  the 
Church  of  England  is  recognized.  What  is  said 
to  be  the  first  formal  adoption  of  the  title  in  an 
ecclesiastical  document  is  found  in  a  declaration 
adopted  at  a  meeting  of  clergy  and  laity  held  at 
Chestertown,  Md.,  9  Nov.,  1780.  There  it  was 
resolved  '*  That  the  Church  known  in  the  Prov- 
ince as  Protestant  be  called  *  The  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church.'  "  Of  this  Convention  the  Rev. 
J.  J.  Wilmer  writes :  "  The  Rev.  Dr.  Smith, 
Dr.  Keene  and  mvself  held  the  iirst  Convention  in 
Chestertown,  and  I  acted  as  secretary  " ;  he  adds 
that  he  "  moved  that  the  Church  of  England  as 
heretofore  so  known  in  the  province  be  now  called 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  it  was  so 
adopted."  ^ 

Later,  13  Aug.,  1783,  at  an  important  meeting 
of  clergy  at  Annapolis,  the  formal  declaration 
was  adopted  which  described  the  Church  under 
this  title,  and  it  seems  to  have  passed  into  general 
use  without  discussion. 

This  ''  Declaration  of  certain  fundamental 
Rights  and  Liberties  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 

1  Perry,  "  History  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church," 
vol.  II,  22, 


12        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Church  of  Maryland,"  is  important  as  throwing 
light  upon  the  meaning  attached  to  the  word  Prot- 
estant at  the  time  and  by  those  who  gave  it  to  the 
Church.  As  I  fancy  it  is  not  widely  kiiown,  I 
will  quote  the  greater  part  of  it: 

"  Wherefore  we  the  Clergy  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  of  Maryland,  (heretofore  de- 
nominated the  Church  of  England,  as  by  law  estab- 
lished) with  all  duty  to  the  Civil  authority  of  the 
State,  and  with  all  Love  and  Good  will  to  our 
Fellow-Christians  of  every  other  Religious  De- 
nomination, do  hereby  declare,  make  known,  and 
claim  the  following  as  certain  of  the  fundamental 
Rights  and  Liberties  inherent,  and  belonging  to  the 
said  Episcopal  Church,  not  only  of  common  Right, 
but  agreeable  to  the  express  words,  spirit  and  design 
of  the  Constitution  and  Form  of  Government,  afore- 
said, viz. — 

"  1st.  We  consider  it  as  the  undoubted  Right 
of  the  said  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  com- 
mon with  other  Christian  Churches  under  the 
American  Revolution,  to  complete  and  preserve 
herself  as  an  entire  Church,  agreeable  to  her  an- 
cient Usages  and  Profession ;  and  to  have  full  en- 
joyment and  free  exercise  of  those  purely  spiritual 
powers  which  are  essential  to  the  Being  of  every 
Church  or  Congregation  of  the  faithful;  and  which, 
being  derived  only  from  Christ  and  Apostles,  are 
to  be  maintained  independent  of  every  foreign  or 


PROTESTANTISM  1 3 

Other  Jurisdiction,  so  far  as  may  be  consistent  with 
the  Civil  Rights  of  Society. 

**  2nd.  That  ever  since  the  Reformation,  it  hath 
been  the  received  Doctrine  of  the  Church  vi^hereof 
we  are  members  (and  which  by  the  Constitution  of 
this  State  is  entitled  to  the  perpetual  enjoyment  of 
certain  Property  and  Rights  under  the  denomina- 
tion of  the  Church  of  England),  that  there  be  these 
three  orders  of  Ministers  in  Christ's  Church: 
Bishops,  Priests  and  Deacons,  and  that  an  Epis- 
copal Ordination  and  Commission  are  necessary  to 
the  valid  Administration  of  the  Sacraments,  and  the 
due  Exercise  of  the  Ministerial  Functions  in  the 
said  Church. 

"  3rd.  That,  without  calling  in  Question,  or 
wishing  the  least  Contest  with  any  other  Christian 
Churches  or  Societies,  concerning  their  Rights, 
Modes  and  Forms,  we  consider  and  declare  it  to  be 
an  Essential  Right  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  to  have  &  enjoy  the  Continuance  of  the 
said  three  orders  of  Ministers  forever,  so  far  as 
concerns  matters  purely  Spiritual,  &  that  no  per- 
sons in  the  character  of  Ministers,  except  such  as 
are  in  the  Communion  of  the  said  Church  and  duly 
called  to  the  ministry  by  regular  Episcopal  Ordina- 
tion can  or  ought  to  be  admitted  into  or  enjoy 
any  of  "  the  Churches,  Chapels,  Glebes  or  other 
Property "  formerly  belonging  to  the  Church  of 
England,  in  this  State,  &  which  by  the  Constitu- 
tion and  Form  of  Government  is  secured  to  the 


14       THE   RELIGION   OF  THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

said  Church,  or  her  Superior  Order  of  Ministers, 
may  in  future  be  denominated. 

"  4th.  That  as  it  is  the  Right,  so  it  will  be  the 
Duty,  of  the  said  Church,  when  duly  organized, 
constituted  and  represented  in  a  Synod  or  Conven- 
tion of  the  different  Orders  of  her  ministry  and 
People,  to  revise  her  Liturgy,  Forms  of  Prayer  & 
public  worship,  in  order  to  adapt  the  same  to  the 
late  Revolution,  &  other  local  circumstances  of 
America,  which  it  is  humbly  conceived  may  and 
will  be  done,  without  any  other  or  farther  Departure 
from  the  Venerable  Order  and  beautiful  Forms  of 
worship  of  the  Church  from  which  we  are  sprung, 
than  may  be  found  expedient  in  the  Change  of  our 
situation  from  a  Daughter  to  a  Sister  Church." 

I  think  that  this  document  makes  it  quite  evi- 
dent that  whatever  else  Protestant  might  mean  to 
its  authors,  it  did  not  mean  a  break  with  the  past, 
the  establishment  of  a  new  Church  on  the  basis 
of  a  new  understanding  of  Scripture.  To  those 
who  signed  this  declaration,  and  we  may  be  sure 
that  their  position  w^as  that  of  the  vast  majority 
of  American  Churchmen  of  the  time,  the  Church 
to  which  they  belonged  was  a  body  having  a  vital 
connection  with  the  past,  the  maintenance  of 
which  depended  on  the  continuance  of  Holy  Or- 
ders. They  gave  no  sign  of  thinking  orders  un- 
important.    The  great  trouble  they  put  them- 


PROTESTANTISM  1 5 

selves  to  to  get  the  Episcopate  is  of  itself  a 
measure  of  the  value  they  placed  upon  them. 
They  valued  them  as  ensuring  at  once  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  Church  with  the  past,  and  as  a 
means  of  securing  the  valid  administration  of  the 
sacraments.  It  v^ould  be  difficult  to  find  a  docu- 
ment with  less  of  the  spirit  of  Protestantism 
in  it,  whether  one  means  by  Protestantism  the 
three  fundamental  principles  of  the  Reformation, 
or  the  popular  go-as-you-please-ism  of  the  pres- 
ent day.  I  think  we  are  safe  in  concluding  that 
to  the  fathers  of  the  American  Church  the 
Protestant  which  they  placed  in  its  legal  title  was 
indicative  not  of  a  theological  position,  but  of  an 
historical  tradition. 


II 

PAPALISM 

HE  assertion  of  the  Roman  Catholic  con- 
troversialist is  that  the  Church  of  England 
is  the  brand  new  product  of  the  Reformation. 
The  reply  of  the  Anglican  Catholic  is  that  there 
is  much  better  ground  for  regarding  the  Roman 
Church  as  a  modern  product  than  there  is  for  so 
regarding  the  Anglican.  The  modern  Roman 
Church  dates  from  the  council  of  Trent,  that  is 
from  the  Reformation,  in  much  the  same  sense 
as  the  Anglican  does :  that  is,  in  both  Anglican 
and  Roman  Churches  there  was,  at  that  epoch, 
an  overhauling  of  the  accumulations  of  the  past, 
a  sorting  out  of  the  inheritance  of  the  Middle 
Ages,  a  rejection  of  some  teaching  and  practices 
and  a  retention  of  others.  In  the  Anglican  Ref- 
ormation the  attempt  was  to  go  back  of  the  Mid- 
dle As:es  to  what  was  conceived  to  be  the  belief 
and  practice  of  the  Primitive  Church;  in  the 
Tridentine  Reformation  the  attempt  was  to  clar- 
ify and  codify  Medieval  teaching  and  to  reduce 

its  heterogeneity  to  a  uniformity  under  the  Papal 

i6 


PAPALISM  17 

Supremacy.  The  result  has  been  that  in  the 
Anglican  Communion  there  is  variety  of  use  and 
practice  which  resembles  nothing  so  much  as  the 
variety  of  the  Middle  Ages,  while  in  Rome  there 
has  been  a  growing  rigidity  of  doctrine  and  disci- 
pline as  the  power  of  the  Papacy  has  extended. 
Then  in  1870  came  the  climax  when  the  claims 
which  had  been  persistently  pressed  were  imposed 
by  authority  as  of  faith.  There  has  been  in  the 
history  of  the  Anglican  Communion  no  such 
revolutionary  action  as  that  whereby  the  Vatican 
Council  superseded  the  original  constitution  of 
the  Church  by  the  proclamation  of  an  infallible 
Papacy.  From  the  beginning  the  Church  was 
governed  by  bishops  deriving  their  power  from 
their  orders,  and  assembling  from  time  to  time  to 
witness  to  the  faith  that  they  had  received  from 
their  predecessors,  and  to  give  utterance  to  the 
mind  of  the  Church  on  such  new  questions  as  con- 
fronted them.  For  this  primitive  constitution 
there  has  been  substituted,  in  the  Latin  Church,  a 
central  power  issuing  infallible  decrees  on  faith 
and  morals,  and  appointing  and  giving  jurisdic- 
tion to  bishops  who  hold  their  office  and  exercise 
their  powers  at  its  will.  There  has  been  no 
change  in  the  constitution  of  the  Anglican  Church 
at  any  time  even  approximating  this.  The 
crowning  insolence  is  found  in  the  assertion  that 


1 8        THE   RELIGION   OF  THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

the  new  papal  constitution  is  the  primitive  con- 
stitution of  the  Christian  Church! 

The  only  question  worth  debating  between  the 
Anglican  and  the  Roman  Communions  is  this 
question  of  the  Papacy.  The  assertion  of  the 
Vatican  Council  is  that  the  decisions  of  the 
Roman  Pontiff,  when  he  speaks  ex  cathedra  as 
teacher  of  all  Christians  in  matters  affecting  faith 
or  morals,  are  in  themselves  and  not  from  the 
consent  of  the  Church  irreformable,  and  that  the 
Pope  is  endowed  with  the  same  infallibility  as 
that  with  which  the  Church  is  endowed.  It  is 
also  asserted  that  the  interpretation  of  the  past  on 
which  the  Vatican  decree  is  based  is  no  new  thing, 
but  that  the  council  is  "  adhering  faithfully  to  a 
tradition  received  from  the  first  beginnings  of  the 
Christian  Faith."  This  was  subsequently  de- 
clared by  Leo  XIII  to  be  "  the  venerable  and  con- 
stant belief  of  every  age."  "  The  consent  of  an- 
tiquity ever  acknowledged  without  the  slightest 
doubt  or  hesitation  the  bishops  of  Rome,  and 
revered  them  as  the  legitimate  successors  of  S. 
Peter."  ^ 

Let  us  be  clear  that  what  is  asserted  is  that 
the  infallible  papacy  ruling  the  universal  Church 

1  Constitutiones  dognvaticae  Concilii  Vaticani.    The  Satis 
Cognitum  of  Leo  XIII. 


PAPALISM  19 

has  existed  from  the  beginning,  being  indeed 
established  by  our  Lord.  Such  an  infalUble  Pope 
was  S.  Peter  and  such  have  been  all  his  successors. 
But  there  is  no  early  evidence  that  S.  Peter  was 
ever  bishop  of  Rome.  He  was  in  Rome  and  was 
martyred  there  as  was  also  S.  Paul;  but  all  the 
evidence  goes  to  show  that  the  Church  of  Rome 
existed  before  either  S.  Peter  or  S.  Paul  came 
there,  and  that  it  had  its  bishops  from  whatever 
source  derived.  Bp.  Light  foot  who,  if  anybody, 
knew  the  literature  of  the  early  Church  says: 
"  I  cannot  find  that  any  wTiters  of  the  first  two 
centuries  and  more  speak  of  S.  Peter  as  bishop 
of  Rome.  Indeed  their  language  is  inconsistent 
with  the  assignment  of  that  position  to  him." 

This  is  exceeding  strange :  for  you  will  notice 
that  what  we  are  dealing  with  is  not  the  meaning 
of  an  institution  but  its  existence.  There  is  end- 
less disputation  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  episco- 
pate ;  but  there  is  no  doubt  at  all  that  from  primi- 
tive times  the  episcopate  has  existed  as  a  fact. 
Laying  aside  all  else  for  the  present  let  us  look 
at  what  is  implied  in  the  assertion  that  the  Papal 
claims  did  exist  from  the  beginning.  Here  are 
some  assertions :  Bellarmine  says,  that  in  deal- 
ing with  the  Papacy  we  are  dealing  with  '*  the 
principal  matter  of  Christianity."     Perrone  says 


20       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

that  ''  when  we  are  treating  about  the  Head  of 
the  Church  we  are  treating  about  the  principal 
point  of  the  matter  on  which  the  existence  and 
safety  of  the  Church  herself  altogether  depends." 
De  Maistre  says,  '*  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  is  the 
necessary,  only,  and  exclusive  foundation  of 
Christianity,"  and  the  "  supremacy  of  the  Pope 
is  the  capital  dogma  without  which  Christianity 
cannot  exist."  And  Leo  XIII  says  that  the  Vati- 
can teaching  about  the  Pope  is  the  *'  venerable 
and  constant  belief  of  every  age." 

If  these  stupendous  claims  were  true  they  could 
hardly  fail  to  be  evident  to  all  men  in  all  ages  of 
the  Church's  history.  The  fact  that  the  only 
proofs  of  them  that  are  alleged  are  a  few  texts 
of  Holy  Scripture  which  early  Christian  writers 
variously  interpreted,  and  a  few  passages  from 
early  Christian  writers  which  on  the  most  liberal 
interpretation  cannot  mean  to  attribute  to  the 
bishop  of  Rome  anything  at  all  resembling  the 
claims  at  present  set  forth  for  him  is  sufficient 
evidence  of  the  non-existence  of  the  papal  power 
in  the  early  life  of  the  Church.  "  If  a  great 
Body  like  the  Church  had  been  subjected  by  its 
Divine  Founder  to  an  infallible  king,  it  could 
hardly  exist  for  three  centuries  without  there 
being  very  evident  proofs  that  the  rule  of  such 
an  infallible  king  was  one  of  the  chief  factors  in 


PAPALISM  21 

its  life.  Government  is  not  an  abstract  theory, 
but  a  practical  fact."  ^ 

If  there  should  take  place  in  this  country  a 
revolution  by  which  it  should  become  a  monarchy, 
and  after  a  time  the  royal  government  should 
assert  that  the  United  States  had  always  been  a 
monarchy,  it  would  be  a  little  difficult  to  persuade 
people  of  this  on  the  basis  of  a  few  passages 
from  early  writers  which  were  capable,  if  they 
stood  alone,  of  being  interpreted  as  expressing  a 
preference  for  monarchy.  The  fact  is  that  dur- 
ing the  first  Christian  centuries  there  is  no  trace 
at  all  of  the  papal  monarchy  governing  the  whole 
Church  and  every  part  of  it;  and  not  only  is  there 
no  trace  of  it,  but  the  facts  that  exist  negative  the 
whole  idea  of  it. 

There  would  seem  to  be  no  need  of  going  into 
the  patristic  interpretation  of  the  so-called  Petrine 
texts  in  any  detail.  If  the  Roman  claims  were 
true  there  could  have  been  no  hesitation  in  the 
mind  of  early  Christian  interpreters  as  to  the 
meaning  of  these  texts.  If  it  were  true  that  they 
are  the  record  of  the  conferring  on  S.  Peter  and 
through  him  on  his  successors  of  all  the  powers 
claimed  by  the  modern  papacy,  the  Church  surely 
must  have  known  it,  and  there  would  have  been 
no  variation  in  interpretation.     But  that  is  pre- 

1  Denny,  "  Papalism,"  p.  96. 


22        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

cisely  what  the  patristic  interpreters  do  not  know. 
Out  of  ninety-five  passages  in  which  early  Chris- 
tian writers  comment  on  the  famous  text,  "  Thou 
art  Peter,"  etc.,  they  give  as  many  as  five  differ- 
ent interpretations.  S.  Augustine  in  the  course 
of  his  writing  gives  three  different  interpretations. 

**  Now  think  what  this  means :  it  means  more 
than  a  want  of  agreement  among  the  Fathers  as  to 
the  meaning  of  the  expression  *  this  rock ' ;  it 
means  that  they  were  entirely  unaware  of  the  sig- 
nificance Rome  has  given  it!  If  by  'this  rock' 
our  Lord  had  meant  S.  Peter  and  his  successors,  is 
it  possible  that  the  majority  of  a  Church  guided  by 
the  Holy  Spirit  should  have  said  that  '  this  rock  * 
meant  Peter's  Faith,  not  Peter  himself !  Yet  that 
is  what  a  majority  of  the  Fathers  do  say.  .  .  .  We 
are  dealing  with  the  sole  passage  on  which  every- 
thing is  built ;  yet  for  centuries  the  accredited 
teachers  of  the  Church  treat  it  differently  and  seem 
wholly  unaware  of  its  tremendous  import !  "  ^ 

It  is  significant,  in  this  connection,  that  the 
Roman  Church  found  it  desirable  to  change  its 
rule  for  the  interpretation  of  Scripture.  The 
profession  of  faith  prescribed  by  Pius  IV  required 
assent  to  the  following: 

"  I  also  admit  Holy  Scripture  according  to  that 
sense  which  Holy  Mother  Church  has  held  and  does 

1  Hardy,  "  Catholic  or  Roman  Catholic/' 


PAPALISM  23 

hold,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  judge  of  the  true  sense 
and  interpretation  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  neither 
will  I  ever  take  and  interpret  them  otherwise  than 
according  to  (juxta)  the  unanimous  consent  of  the 
Fathers."  ^ 

Now  it  is  quite  plain  that  there  is  no  unanimous 
consent  of  the  Fathers  in  the  interpretation  of 
the  Petrine  text.  We  read,  therefore,  in  the 
Dogmatic  Constitution  of  the  Vatican  Council : 

"  That  is  to  be  held  the  true  sense  of  Holy  Scrip- 
ture which  Holy  Mother  Church  hath  held  and  does 
hold,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  judge  of  the  true  sense 
and  interpretation  of  Holy  Scripture,  and  therefore 
it  is  permitted  to  no  one  to  interpret  Holy  Scrip- 
ture contrary  to  this  sense,  nor  likewise  contrary 
(Contra)  to  the  unanimous  consent  of  the  Fa- 
thers." 2 

This  is  quite  harmless,  and  we  are  certainly 
not  violating  it  when  we  deny  the  claims  of  the 
papacy  a  Scriptural  foundation. 

Not  only  is  it  true  that  the  Roman  Catholic 
assertion  that  the  Papalist  interpretation  of  the 
Petrine  texts  is  that  of  the  Fathers  is  unfounded; 
but  it  is  also  true  that  the  passages  quoted  from 

i"The  Profession  of  Faith  Prescribed  by  Pius  IV." 
(Denzinger,  p.  234.) 

2  "The  Dogmatic  Constitution  of  the  Vatican."  (Den- 
zinger, p.  288.) 


24        THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

the  Fathers  to  show  that  they  recognized  the 
papacy  as  an  existing  fact  do  not  prove  what  they 
are  quoted  to  prove.  It  is  perfectly  true  th?t  in 
very  early  times  the  see  of  Rome  was  regarded 
as  the  see  of  Peter.  Its  early  history  was  asso- 
ciated with  the  great  names  of  Peter  and  Paul. 
Moreover,  it  was  the  bishopric  of  the  world's 
capital.  It  was  the  one  Apostolic  see  in  the 
West.  It  was  altogether  natural  that  it  should 
be  held  in  special  reverence,  especially  in  the 
West.  This  reverence  finds  expression  from 
time  to  time  in  the  writings  of  the  Fathers.  But 
what  in  their  writings  is  at  most  the  expression 
of  a  feeling  of  Rome's  supremacy  in  dignity  is 
quoted  by  the  modern  Roman  controversialist  as 
though  it  applied  to  all  that  is  claimed  for  the 
papacy  by  the  Vatican  Council  —  as  though  the 
claims  of  Pius  IX  were  in  the  minds  of  the  Fa- 
thers. It  is  a  clever  enough  trick,  but  it  is  only 
a  trick.  There  are  no  utterances  of  the  Fathers 
which  at  all  imply  a  knowledge  on  their  part  of 
any  claim  of  the  Pope  to  possess  Jure  divino  juris- 
diction over  the  whole  Church.  It  is  well  to  be 
clear  about  this.  The  passages  quoted  from 
early  Christian  writers  in  support  of  the  papal 
theory  may  equally  well  or  better  be  understood 
otherwise.  If  you  come  to  them  with  the  papal 
theory  in  your  mind  as  an  established  fact,  you 


PAPALISM  25 

can  make  them  fit;  but  no  one  would  build  up  a 
papal  theory  out  of  them.  For  centuries  the 
Church  with  these  passages  before  it  did  not  give 
them  a  papal  interpretation. 

The  explicit  nature  of  the  papal  claim  that  the 
Vatican  doctrine  is  the  "  venerable  and  constant 
belief  of  every  age  "  of  the  Church  excludes  the 
possibility  of  development.  The  theory  of  de- 
velopment is  a  very  attractive  one.  You  can  ac- 
count for  whatever  exists  by  it.  By  it,  it  would 
have  been  fairly  easy  to  account  for  the  papacy. 
But  the  papacy  no  doubt  saw  wisely  when  it  re- 
jected it,  for  it  not  only  explains  but  it  desuper- 
naturalizes.  A  papacy  developed  in  the  Middle 
Ages  or  in  the  post-Reformation  period  might 
claim  a  certain  ecclesiastical  sanction,  but  it  could 
hardly  claim  divine  right.  If  the  Church  had 
got  on  for  centuries  without  it,  it  could  not  claim 
to  be  of  the  esse  of  the  Church.  It  is  essential  to 
the  papal  theory  that  all  the  papal  powers  should 
have  existed  from  the  beginning.  But  this,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  more  than  difficult  to  prove.  A 
certain  class  of  Roman  Catholic  scholars  see  this 
and  feel  the  difficulty  of  the  Roman  position. 
They  therefore  in  the  face  of  their  own  authori- 
tative documents  attempt  to  account  for  the 
growth  of  the  papacy  on  the  theory  of  develop- 
ment. 


26        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

"  What  we  find  in  the  primitive  Church  is  a 
church  that  is  primitive,  that  is  to  say,  a  germ  en- 
dowed with  a  tendency  toward  what  we  now  see; 
a  germ  defined  in  itself  and  possessed  of  its  own 
character  and  of  a  beginning  of  organization,  in 
such  sort  that  the  present  order  would  necessarily 
flow  from  it  through  the  co-operation  of  circum- 
stances which  would  be  to  the  germ  what  the  earth 
and  the  atmosphere  are  to  the  plant.  Now,  what  is 
it  in  the  embryonic  Church  that  represents  the  cen- 
tral authority  in  which  we  to-day  see  the  bond  of  our 
Church  ?     It  is  the  primacy  of  Simon  Peter."  ^ 

No  more  does  Tixeront  find  the  papacy  of  the 
Vatican  decrees  in  the  primitive  Church. 

"  It  is  impossible,  do  what  one  will,  to  efface  the 
sense  of  these  declarations  [of  S.  Cyprian]  and  to 
believe  that  he  who  made  them  had  a  clear  and 
complete  idea  of  the  pontifical  primacy."  ^ 

"  To  the  bishop  of  Rome  texts  and  facts  mani- 
festly attribute  or  suppose  an  undisputed  considera- 
tion and  a  special  authority  of  which  the  nature 
and  extent  are  as  yet  not  entirely  determined."  ^ 

This  sums  up  the  Anti-Nicene  period.  And 
further,  on  the  same  period,  Tixeront  says : 

1  Sertillanges,  "  L'Eglise,"  vol.  I,  p.  154. 
«  "  Hist,  des  Dogmes,"  I,  p.  427. 
^Ibid.,  p.  514. 


PAPALISM  27 

"  This  resume  of  the  state  of  theological  teaching 
on  the  eve  of  Arianism  shows  us  the  Church  fixed 
on  the  bases  of  its  behef,  and,  on  the  whole,  ready 
to  define  it  in  broad  lines  when  need  shall  arise. 
The  organ  of  these  definitions  will  be  its  hierarchy, 
and  it  is  because  the  prerogatives  of  this  hierarchy 
are  recognized  that  the  Church  will  be  able  to  im- 
pose its  decisions  and  dissipate  the  attacks  of  which 
they  will  be  the  object.  Unfortunately  this  hier- 
archy will  find  itself  divided,  and  personal  rivalries 
as  much  as  doctrinal  divergences  will  prolong  be- 
yond measure  the  debates  that  a  sincere  discussion 
would  have  closed  in  a  few  hours.  But  at  least 
these  debates,  by  their  very  extent,  will  be  the  occa- 
sion of  a  more  complete  clearing  up  of  the  evan- 
gelistical  revelation  and  of  a  more  sensible  progress 
of  the  Christian  society  in  the  understanding  of  its 
faith."  ^ 

This  would  seem  to  have  been  a  good  place 
for  the  living  voice  to  come  in! 

"The  holy  doctor  (S.  Augustine)  admits  that  in 
his  judgment  an  appeal  may  be  allowed  to  the  see 
of  Rome.  But  does  he  grant  the  Pope  a  doctrinal 
authority  which  is  infallible  and  sovereign?  That 
is  a  question  to  which  it  is  impossible  to  give  a  firm 
answer.  The  passages  which  are  invoked  to  deny 
it  are  in  no  ways  certain.  Those  which  are  alleged 
in  its  support  are  no  more  so.     It  is  a  question,  not 

^Ibid.,  p.  516. 


28        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

of  the  Pope  speaking  alone,  but  of  the  Pope  united 
with  a  council,  which  is  very  different."  ^ 

The  assertion  of  the  modern  papacy  is  that  it 
is  no  new  thing,  gradually  developed,  but  that 
with  all  its  powers  it  has  existed,  not  in  germ, 
but  explicitly  from  the  beginning.  We  have 
shown  that  the  Fathers  of  the  Church  did  not 
know  of  the  existence  of  the  papacy  in  the  mod- 
ern meaning  of  it.  We  now  propose  to  show  that 
it  was  not  known  by  members  of  the  Roman 
Church  itself  up  to  1870.  If  development  were 
not  explicitly  denied  by  the  authoritative  state- 
ments of  the  Roman  Church  it  might  be  conceiv- 
able that,  as  Sertillanges  argues,  the  germ  of  the 
papal  doctrine  should  have  grown  until  it  reached 
the  stage  of  definition;  but  if  it  be  true  that  a 
doctrine  when  it  is  presented  either  for  theolog- 
ical discussion  or  as  a  practical  claim  of  govern- 
ment is  widely  denied  by  wholly  orthodox  teach- 
ers to  be  any  part  of  the  Christian  faith,  its  claim 
to  be  either  primitive  or  Catholic  falls.  I  pro- 
pose to  demonstrate  that  the  papal  infallibility 
has  been  constantly  denied  and  repudiated  as  a 
doctrine  of  the  Church  by  Roman  Catholics  of 
unimpeachable  orthodoxy.     The   following  pas- 

1  Tixeront,  vol.  II,  p.  390,  On  Tixeront's  treatment  of 
the  Pope's  denial  of  transsubstantiation  see  volume  III, 
page  378. 


PAPALISM  29 

sages  are  taken  from  Sparrow  Simpson's  "  Ro- 
man Catholic  Opposition  to  Papal  Infallibility  " : 

"  Bossuet's  survey  of  history  from  the  Apostolic 
Age  to  his  own  time,  Scripture,  Fathers,  Councils, 
Theologians,  confirmed  him  in  the  truth  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  Church  of  France.  The  ultimate  and 
therefore  irreversible  decision  in  faith  depended  on 
the  Collective  Episcopate,  and  on  that  only;  as 
voicing  the  belief  of  the  Universal  Church. 

"  *  What  benefit  to  the  Church,'  he  exclaims  in 
a  striking  passage,  *  can  exist  in  that  doubtful  au- 
thority, which  the  Church  has  not  yet  affirmed,  of 
a  Pope's  ex  cathedra  decisions?  We  live  in  the 
seventeenth  century  of  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
not  yet  are  orthodox  and  saintly  men  agreed  about 
that  infallibility.  To  say  nothing  of  the  Councils 
of  Constance  and  of  Basle,  saintly  and  learned  men 
are  opposed  to  it.  And  if  many  private  individuals 
clamor  greatly,  and  pour  forth  imprudent  censures 
against  them,  yet  neither  the  Catholic  Church  nor 
Rome  itself  passes  any  condemnation  upon  them. 
Three  hundred  years  we  have  controverted  it  with 
impunity.  Has  the  Church  waited  for  peace  and 
security  down  to  this  our  age,  until  the  seventeenth 
century  is  almost  at  an  end  ?  Plainly,  then,  the  se- 
curity of  pious  souls  must  rest  in  the  consent  of 
the  Universal  Church.  It  cannot  be  that  they 
should  acquiesce  in  the  doubtful  Infallibility  of  the 
Roman  Pontiff.  ...  A  doubtful  Infallibility  is  not 
that   Infallibility  which   Christ   bestowed.     If   He 


30        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

had  granted  it  at  all  He  would  have  revealed  it  to 
His  Church  from  the  very  beginning.  He  would 
not  have  left  it  doubtful,  inadequately  revealed,  nor 
useless  for  want  of  an  indisputable  tradition/  (P. 
95-6.) 

"  When  in  the  year  1788  a  Committee  of  English 
Romanists  was  formed  to  appeal  to  Parliament  for 
the  removal  of  Roman  disabiHties,  the  petitioners 
declared  that  it  was  a  duty  which  they  owed  to  their 
country,  as  well  as  themselves,  to  protest  ir  a  for- 
mal and  solemn  manner  against  doctrines  which 
constituted  no  part  of  their  principles,  rehgion  or 
belief.  Among  these  they  rejected  the  theory  that 
excommunicated  princes  may  be  deposed  or  mur- 
dered by  their  subjects.  They  declared  that  no 
ecclesiastical  power  whatever  can  absolve  subjects 
from  allegiance  to  lawful  temporal  authority. 
They  wrote :  *  We  believe  that  no  act  that  is  in 
itself  immoral  or  dishonest  can  ever  be  justified 
by  or  under  colour  that  it  is  done  either  for  the 
good  of  the  Church  or  in  obedience  to  any  ecclesi- 
astical power  whatever.'  And  —  what  now  par- 
ticularly concerns  us  here  —  they  said :  '  W^e  ac- 
knowledge no  Infallibility  in  the  Pope.'  (P.  99- 
100.) 

"  This  protestation  of  the  Roman  Catholics  of 
England  brought  about  the  passing  of  the  Relief 
Act  of  1 791.  The  representative  character  of  the 
document  may  be  realized  from  the  fact  that  it  was 
signed  by  all  the  four  Vicars  Apostolic;  that  is  by 


PAPALISM  3 1' 

all  the  highest  Roman  authorities  in  England,  by 
240  priests;  and  in  all  by  1,523  members  of  the 
Anglo-Roman  body,  among  whom  most  of  the  edu- 
cated and  influential  laity  were  included.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  ascertain  what  proportion  the  240 
priests  bore  to  the  total  number  of  Roman  clergy 
in  this  land.  Accurate  statistics  are  not  easily  ob- 
tained. The  Committee  of  EngHsh  Romanists 
claimed  that  the  total  number  of  Roman  priests  in 
England  did  not  exceed  260.  Berington,  in  1780, 
estimated  the  number  as  nearer  360,  of  whom  no 
were  ex-Jesuits.  From  these  figures  it  would  ap- 
pear that,  if  the  Jesuits  are  left  out,  nearly  the 
whole  body  of  Roman  clergy  in  England,  including 
their  four  bishops,  committed  themselves  frankly 
to  rejection  of  Papal  Infallibility.     (P.  100.) 

"  The  history  of  Irish  Roman  beHef  is  similar. 
An  Act  for  their  relief  was  passed  in  1793.  It 
contains  an  oath  which  states  that  *  it  is  not  an  ar- 
ticle of  the  CathoHc  Faith,  neither  am  I  thereby 
required  to  believe  or  profess  that  the  Pope  is  in- 
falHble.' 

"  No  less  unmistakable  is  the  language  of  a  Ro- 
man Catholic  Bishop  in  England  in  1822 :  — 

"  *  Bellarmine  and  some  other  divines,  chiefly 
Italians,  have  believed  the  Pope  infallible,  when 
proposing  ex  cathedra  an  article  of  faith.  But  in 
England  or  Ireland  I  do  not  believe  that  any  Catho- 
lic maintains  the  Infallibility  of  the  Pope.' "     (P. 

lOI.) 


32        THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

An  interesting  echo  of  these  statement  appears 
later,  in  a  letter  from  Lord  Acton  to  Mr  Glad- 
stone, written  from  Rome  during  the  Vatican 
Council : 

"Rome,  March  15th  (1870). 
"  My  dear  Mr.  Gladstone, — 

"  A  protest  on  the  question  of  Papal  Infallibility 
was  presented  to-day  by  certain  bishops  of  the 
United  Kingdom. 

"  They  exhort  the  Legates  to  pause  before  they 
put  that  doctrine  to  vote.  They  state  that  the  Eng- 
lish and  Irish  Catholics  obtained  their  Emancipa- 
tion, and  the  full  privileges  of  citizenship  by  sol- 
emn and  repeated  declarations,  that  their  religion 
did  not  teach  the  dogma  now  proposed;  that  these 
declarations  made  by  the  bishops  and  permitted 
by  Rome,  are  in  fact  the  condition  under  which 
Catholics  are  allowed  to  sit  in  Parliament  and  to 
hold  offices  of  trust  and  responsibility  under  the 
Crown ;  and  that  they  cannot  be  overlooked  or  for- 
gotten by  us  without  dishonour. 

"  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  one  at  least  of  the 
prelates  who  have  signed  this  most  significant  paper 
would  not  be  among  the  theological  opponents  of 
the  Definition,  but  that  he  regards  this  considera- 
tion of  morality  and  public  integrity  as  an  insuper- 
able barrier  for  men  enjoying  the  benefit  of  the  Act 
of  Emancipation."  ^ 

i"Lord  Acton's  Correspondence,"  vol.  I,  p.  iii. 


PAPALISM  33 

To  continue  our  quotation  from  Simpson : 

"  *  A  principle,'  echoed  Dupanloup ;  *  even  grant- 
ing that  were  so,  I  answer,  is  it  then  essential  to  the 
life  of  the  Church  that  this  principle  should  become 
a  dogma  of  faith?  How,  then,  explain  the  fact  that 
the  Church  has  lived  for  eighteen  centuries  with- 
out defining  a  principle  essential  to  her  existence? 
How  explain  the  fact  that  she  has  formulated  all 
her  doctrine,  produced  her  teachers,  condemned  all 
heresies,  without  this  definition?'     (P.  170.) 

"  Another  exposition  of  the  Roman  faith  for 
English-speaking  people  is  the  famous  book  called 
Keenan's  Catechism.  It  is  entitled  *  Controversial 
Catechism,  or  Protestantism  Refuted  and  Catholi- 
cism Established/  The  edition  of  i860  is  described 
as  the  third  edition,  and  in  its  seventeenth  thousand. 
It  bears  the  imprimatur  of  four  Roman  bishops, 
two  of  them  being  Vicars  Apostolic.  In  these  ap- 
probations we  are  assured  that '  the  sincere  searcher 
after  truth  will  here  find  a  lucid  path  opened  to 
conduct  him  to  its  sanctuary ;  while  the  believer  will 
be  hereby  instructed  and  confirmed  in  his  faith.' 
From  1846  to  i860  it  was  being  largely  circulated 
throughout  England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland. 

"  The  book  contains  the  following  question  and 
answer : 

"'  (Q)  Must  not  Catholics  believe  the  Pope  in 
himself  to  be  infallible? 

"  *  (A)     This  is  a  Protestant  invention :  it  is  no 


34        THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

article  of  the  Catholic  faith:  no  decision  of  his 
can  oblige  under  pain  of  heresy,  unless  it  be  re- 
ceived and  enforced  by  the  teaching  body,  that  is 
by  the  bishops  of  the  Church/     (P.  iii.) 

"  *  We  are  still,'  wrote  Dollinger  to  the  Arch- 
bishop, *  waiting  the  explanation  how  it  is  that,  until 
1,830  years  had  passed,  the  Church  did  not  formu- 
late into  an  article  of  faith  a  doctrine  which  the 
Pope,  in  a  letter  addressed  to  your  Grace,  calls 
the  very  foundation  principle  of  Catholic  faith  and 
doctrine?  How  has  it  been  possible  that  for  cen- 
turies the  Popes  have  overlooked  the  denial  of  this 
fundamental  article  of  faith  by  whole  countries 
and  in  whole  theological  schools?  And  was  there 
a  unity  of  the  Church  when  there  was  a  difference 
in  the  very  fundamentals  of  belief?  And  —  may 
I  further  add  —  how  is  it  then  that  your  Grace 
yourself  resisted  so  long  and  so  persistently  the 
proclamation  of  this  dogma?  You  answer,  because 
it  was  not  opportune.  But  can  it  ever  be  "  inoppor- 
tune "  to  give  believers  the  key  to  the  whole  build- 
ing of  faith,  to  proclaim  the  fundamental  article 
on  which  all  others  depend?  x\re  we  not  now  all 
standing  before  a  dizzy  abyss  which  opened  itself 
before  our  eyes  on  the  i8th  July?'  Dollinger  con- 
cluded with  a  deliberate  and  emphatic  rejection  of 
the  new  Decree :  *  As  a  Christian,  as  a  theologian, 
as  a  historian,  as  a  citizen,  I  cannot  accept  this 
doctrine.' "     (P.  320.) 

There  are  a  few  other  things  which  it  seems 


PAPALISM  35 

well  to  note.  A  good  deal  of  reliance  is  placed 
by  Roman  Catholic  controversialists  on  the  asser- 
tion that  a  body  must  have  a  head;  and  if  it  is 
rcjtjlied  that  Christ  is  the  Head  of  the  Body  the 
answer  is  that  that  no  doubt  is  true  as  concerns 
the  whole  Church,  but  that  a  visible  Church  with 
which  we  are  here  concerned  must  have  a  visible 
head,  and  that  that  visible  head  is  the  successor 
of  S.  Peter.  The  Satis  Cognitiim  says,  '*  Cer- 
tainly Christ  is  a  King  forever;  and  though  In- 
visible, He  continues  unto  the  end  of  time  to 
govern  and  guard  His  Church  from  Heaven. 
But  since  He  willed  that  His  Kingdom  should  be 
visible  He  was  obliged  when  He  ascended  into 
Heaven,  to  designate  a  vicegerent  on  earth."  On 
this  Denny  comments : 

"  Now,  this  obligation  to  appoint  a  vicegerent 
on  earth  which  is  here  alleged  to  be  incumbent  on 
Christ  as  the  invisible  King  of  the  Church,  implies 
that,  according  to  the  will  of  God,  it  is  essential 
that  there  should  be  a  single  individual  who  should 
be  the  head  of  the  Church  Militant  here  on  earth. 
To  be  so  essential  it  would  be  necessary  that  the 
Church  on  earth  should  be  a  separate  entity,  entire 
and  complete  in  itself,  and  which  consequently  re- 
quires to  possess  a  head  to  itself.  But  the  contrary 
is  the  fact.  The  Church  Militant  here  on  earth  is 
but  a  portion,  and  that  the  smallest,  of  a  great 
whole,   made  up  of  the  Church  Triumphant,  the 


36        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Church  Expectant,  together  with  itself.  Hence  it 
is  obvious  that  prima  facie  the  appointment  of  a 
visible  head  for  the  portion  of  the  one  Church 
here  on  earth  is  inconsistent  with  the  unity  of  the 
Church,  for  that  is  One  Body,  and  can  therefore 
have  but  one  Head,  just  as  the  human  body  can 
possess  but  one  head.  Such  a  condition  of  things 
would  involve  the  consequence  that  the  Church 
Militant  is  another  Church  separate  from  the  di- 
vinely constituted  Society,  and  thus  a  mere  human 
invention."  ^ 

Perhaps  no  assertion  of  the  Roman  controver- 
sialist so  impresses  the  unlearned  outsider  as  the 
assertion  that  the  practical  needs  of  the  Church 
require  a  Living  Voice  that  can  intervene  to  set- 
tle controversies  and  to  direct  the  perplexed  faith- 
ful. Doubt  and  controversy  are  continual  phe- 
nomena of  human  life,  and  if  the  plain  man  is 
to  have  a  plain  way  to  walk  in,  if  he  is  to  know 
what  to  believe  amid  all  the  confusion  of  modern 
tongues,  he  needs  a  guide ;  and  the  guide  at  hand 
is  the  successor  of  Peter. 

It  would  perhaps  be  well  for  the  plain  man  to 
note  that  the  questions  which  are  raised  to  per- 
plex him  in  the  matter  of  religion  are  either  ques- 
tions which  have  been  already  answered  or  ques- 

1  Denny,  "  Papalism,"  pp.  lo-ii. 


PAPALISM  37 

tions  which  do  not  need  an  answer.  The  conten- 
tion of  the  Anghcan  Church  is  that  the  faith 
has  been  already  sufficiently  declared  —  there  is 
no  need  of  constant  determinations  of  questions 
of  faith.  The  explicit  statement  of  the  faith 
which  was  sufficient  for  S.  Augustine  and  S. 
Gregory  is  still  sufficient;  there  is  no  need  of  a 
living  voice  to  define  it  further.  There  are,  no 
doubt,  in  every  generation  many  perplexing  ques- 
tions which  we  should  like  to  have  answered ;  but 
there  is  no  authoritative  answer  because  they  are 
not  matters  of  faith  to  be  received  in  order  to 
attain  salvation.  There  is  rightly  in  the  Church 
a  place  for  free  investigation  and  enquiry 
in  regard  to  questions  which  have  not  been  de- 
fined. We  would  not  have  it  otherwise,  for  to 
have  it  otherwise  would  be  to  court  intellectual 
stagnation.  **  The  Church  which  promises  cer- 
tainty without  the  pain  of  enquiry  becomes  more 
and  more  the  Church  of  those  who  do  not  wish 
to  enquire." 

The  Living  Voice  of  the  Church  from  the  be- 
ginning was  uttered  through  free  conciliar  action. 
For  centuries  the  assembly  of  councils  of  bishops 
was  the  normal  method  by  which  the  Church  ex- 
pressed its  mind.  As  a  matter  of  historic  fact 
all  the  great  dogmatic  decisions  of  the  Church 


38        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

were  made,  not  by  the  papacy,  but  by  councils. 
Therein  the  episcopate  to  which  our  Lord  com- 
mitted the  faith  gave  its  testimony  as  to  what  it 
was  that  was  committed  to  it;  and  its  decrees, 
sent  forth  to  the  whole  Church  and  recognized 
by  the  universal  episcopate  became  binding  on  the 
faithful.  This  normal  mode  of  expression  was 
rendered  impossible  by  the  divison  of  Christen- 
dom; but  already,  when  the  division  took  place, 
the  faith  had  long  been  sufficiently  stated.  Con- 
ciliar  action  could  still  express  the  mind  of  the 
local  church,  enact  discipline  and  take  measures 
to  safeguard  the  faith.  It  is  this,  the  true  Liv- 
ing Voice  of  the  Church,  that  the  papacy  has 
deliberately  set  itself  to  suppress.  It  has,  wher- 
ever its  power  has  extended,  made  councils  sub- 
ordinate to  the  papacy  and  the  organs  of  its 
action.  It  has  suppressed  the  episcopate  as  an 
organ  of  the  Church's  self-expression.  The  epis- 
copate to  which  the  Lord  committed  the  faith 
and  which  for  centuries  gave  testimony  to  the 
faith  committed  to  it,  is,  in  the  Roman  commun- 
ion, no  longer  a  representative  of  the  Body  of 
Christ,  but  a  representative  of  the  papacy.  Ro- 
man bishops  are  simply  papal  lieutenants  sent  out 
to  do  the  will  of  the  Pope.  The  legitimate  Liv- 
ing Voice  wherever  the  papacy  has  power  has 
been  silenced. 


PAPALISM  39 

Note. —  The  Roman  official  documents  are  collected  in 
Denzinger's  "  Enchiridion."  Denny,  "  Papalism  "  (London, 
Rivingtons,  1912)  is  an  unanswerable  criticism  of  the  papal 
position.  Puller,  "The  Primative  Saints  and  the  See  of 
Rome"  (New  York,  Longmans,  1914)  is  valuable.  No 
one  interested  in  the  subject  can  afford  to  miss  W.  J. 
Sparrow  Simpson,  "  Roman  Catholic  Opposition  to  Papal 
Infallibility"  (Milwaukee,  The  Young  Qiurchman  Co., 
1910).  Perhaps  the  best  brief  book  is  George  Bayfield 
Roberts,  "  The  Papal  Question  "  (London,  Pitman  &  Sons, 
1914). 


Ill 

CATHOLICITY 

^^^HAT  we  have  to  attach  any  adjective  to  the 
^^^  word  Church  in  order  to  distinguish  true 
from  false  and  to  avoid  confusion  is  an  indication 
of  human  failure  to  attain  a  divine  ideal.  It 
ought  to  be  enough  to  describe  ourselves  as  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  or  as  Christians,  or,  as  the 
first  disciples  described  themselves,  as  "  those  of 
the  Way."  But  such  a  designation  to-day  only 
calls  out  the  question:  *' What  Church?" 
*' What  sort  of  Christians?"  Orthodox  de- 
scribes those  w^ho  so  designate  themselves  as 
separate  from  the  majority  of  Christians  whom 
they  regard  as  having  departed  from  the  Faith. 
Roman  emphasizes  the  extension  of  an  usurped 
authority  over  a  large  part  of  the  Christian  West. 
Protestant  embodies  an  historical  reference,  and 
calls  up  to  minds  to-day  an  amorphous  theological 
body  of  belief.  Protestant  Episcopal  joins  an 
historical  reminiscence  to  a  note  of  the  Church, 
producing  a  name  of  small  significance.     The  sad 

thing  is  that  when  we  think  of  ourselves  as  Chris- 

40 


CATHOLICITY  4I 

tians  we  should  automatically  think  of  ourselves 
as  separate  from  other  Christians.  Yet  perhaps 
it  is  as  well  to  be  reminded  of  our  sins  and  the 
sins  of  our  fathers. 

There  are  words  which  have  degenerated  to  a 
sectarian  significance  which  in  themselves  have 
from  the  beginning  no  such  meaning.  They  are 
words  which  seek  to  express  qualities  of  the  Body 
of  Christ.  Catholic  is  a  word  of  such  primary 
meaning  which  has  been  degraded  to  the  sectarian 
level.  Back  of  the  divisions  of  Christendom  we 
seek  to  find  a  common  ground,  or  body  of  belief 
and  practice,  which  underlies  those  groups  of 
Christians,  at  least,  who  have  held  fast  the 
Creeds,  the  Sacraments  and  the  Ministry  of  the 
Church  from  the  beginning.  One  aspect  or  qual- 
ity of  this  underlying  ground  is  that  which  we 
designate  as  Catholicity.  It  is  the  meaning  of 
this  word  that  we  have  now  to  examine.  Though 
we  give  our  ecclesiastical  organization  a  cor- 
porate name  (Protestant  Episcopal)  when  we 
speak  of  the  Church  as  a  corporation  existing  in 
the  United  States  of  America ;  when  we  think  of 
it  as  a  spiritual  fact,  as  the  Body  of  Christ;  when 
as  members  of  it  we  come  before  God  in  worship, 
we  speak  of  the  Catholic  Church.  In  this  asser- 
tion we  do  not  mean  to  deny  the  claim  of  others 
to  the  quality  of  Catholicity  —  we  do  not  assert 


42        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

that  we  are  all  the  Catholics  that  there  are;  but 
we  do  assert  our  right  to  be  called  Catholic  and 
to  be  members  of  the  One  Holy  Catholic  and 
Apostolic  Church. 

The  original  meaning  of  this  word  Catholic  is 
universal  or  general;  and  the  temptation  has  been 
to  limit  the  ecclesiastical  meaning  of  it  by  its  ety- 
mology rather  than  define  it  by  its  use.  It  has 
been  defined  as  indicating  extension  merely,  so 
that  the  Catholic  Church  is  described  as  that 
which  extends  throughout  the  world,  and  the 
test  of  Catholicity  has  been  found  in  numbers 
and  geographical  distribution.  "  Embracing  all 
Christians,"  a  dictionary  rather  foolishly  says. 
But  when  we  remember  that  the  Church  never  has 
extended  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  that  it 
had  the  least  extension  when  first  the  term  came 
into  use,  we  feel  that  extension  cannot  be  the 
important  element  in  the  meaning. 

The  word  makes  its  appearance  in  Christian 
literature  about  the  year  no,  in  the  Epistle  of  S. 
Ignatius  to  the  Church  in  Smyrna  (cap.  8). 
"  Wherever  the  bishop  appears,  let  the  congrega- 
tion be  present;  just  as  wherever  Jesus  Christ  is, 
there  is  the  Catholic  Church."  In  the  account  of 
the  martyrdom  of  S.  Polycarp,  c.  150  a.  d.,  the 
holy  Martyr  is  represented  as  praying  for  "  the 
whole  Catholic  Church  throughout  the  world  '* 


CATHOLICITY  43 

(cap.  8)  ;  and  is  described  as  "  bishop  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  in  Smyrna."  These  early  uses  of 
the  word  do  not  stress  the  notion  of  extension 
but  of  wholeness.  Where  our  Lord  is  there  is 
the  whole  Church,  the  Church  in  its  entirety. 
Our  Lord  is  described  as  ''  Shepherd  of  the  Cath- 
olic Church  throughout  the  world."  (Cap.  i6.) 
This  is  mere  tautology  if  Catholic  means  only 
throughout  the  world.  The  writer  means  plainly 
the  Shepherd  of  the  Church  in  its  entirety.  So 
when  S.  Polycarp  is  described  as  the  Catholic 
bishop  of  Smyrna  what  is  meant  is  that  he  was 
the  bishop  of  the  whole  Christian  community, 
and  not  head  of  any  special  group  or  groups. 

When  the  word  appears,  then,  the  Catholic 
Church  is  the  whole  Church  as  distinguished  from 
the  local  church.  It  is  the  re-naming  of  a  fact 
made  familiar  to  us  by  our  reading  of  the  New 
Testament.  Wherever  the  Apostles  went  preach- 
ing the  W^ord  they  planted  "  churches."  These 
were  congregations  of  baptized  men  and  women 
with  a  common  meeting  place  and  some  elemen- 
tary organization.  It  is  not  too  much  to  assume 
that  in  all  such  congregations  elders  were  ap- 
pointed and  given  control  of  the  local  teaching, 
worship,  etc.  The  Epistles  of  S.  Paul  are  full 
of  allusions  to  these  "churches."  "All  the 
churches   of   the   Gentiles."     (Rom.    XVI,    4.) 


44        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

"As  I  teach  everywhere,  in  every  church."  (I 
Cor.  IV,  17.)  '*  The  care  of  all  the  churches." 
(II  Cor.  XI,  28.)  But  when  S.  Paul  stops  think- 
ing about  these  groups  of  converts  whom  he  has 
brought  to  Christ  and  the  spiritual  care  of  whom 
continually  weighs  upon  him,  and  thinks  of  our 
Lord  and  His  work  in  the  world  and  the  outcome 
of  that  work  in  the  body  of  believers  who  have 
been  baptized  into  Christ,  as  one  spiritual  fact, 
then  we  no  longer  hear  of  the  church  in  Rome  or 
Corinth  or  Jerusalem,  but  we  are  presented  with 
a  divine  and  heavenly  thing  —  the  Body  of  Christ. 
This  is  the  Church.  This  is  the  whole  Church. 
This  is  the  Catholic  Church  which  we,  in  the 
Creeds,  profess  to  believe.  This  Catholicity  can- 
not be  expressed  in  terms  of  locality  or  extension 
for  it  is  a  spiritual  quality,  the  immanence  in  man 
of  the  divine  humanity.  "  We  being  many,  are 
one  body  in  Christ,  and  every  one  members  one 
of  another."  (Rom.  XII,  5.)  "  Ye  are  the  body 
of  Christ,  and  severally  members  thereof."  (I 
Cor.  XII,  2^?)  "  The  Church,  which  is  his  body, 
the  fulness  of  him  that  filleth  all  in  all."  (Eph. 
I,  23.)  This  has  nothing  to  do  with  time  or 
place,  but  is  spiritual  fact.  This  is  the  Church 
which  according  to  S.  Ignatius  is  where  Jesus 
Christ  is,  and  of  which,  according  to  the  Martyr- 
dom of  S.  Polycarp,  Jesus  Christ  is  the  Shepherd. 


CATHOLICITY  45 

Of  this  Church,  too,  SS.  Ignatius  and  Polycarp 
were  bishops  and  martyrs.  But  when  we  ask, 
"  Where  is  this  CathoHc  Church  ? "  we  can 
only  be  shown  the  ''  churches  "  in  this  place  or 
that  —  in  Jerusalem,  in  Antioch,  in  Smyrna. 
None  of  these  can  we  recognize  as  the  whole 
Church;  and  yet  there  is  a  sense  in  which  the 
church  in  this  or  that  place  is  the  whole  Church, 
not  extensively  but  qualitatively.  The  Church  in 
Antioch  or  Smyrna  is  the  localization  of  the  Body 
of  Christ.  There  the  Kingdom  of  the  Incarna- 
tion is  manifested.  There  are  all  the  powers  of 
the  Church  of  the  Living  God. 

For  again,  we  must  grasp  Catholicity,  not  as 
quantity,  as  extension,  but  as  quality.  CathoHcity 
is  the  quality  which  makes  it  possible  that  the 
Church  should  be  world-wide.  It  fits  it  to  be  the 
Church  throughout  all  the  world.  The  Church 
is  Catholic,  not  because  it  is  the  Church  of  all 
(which  it  obviously  is  not),  but  because  it  is 
fitted  to  be  the  Church  of  all.  It  is  able  to  supply 
the  spiritual  needs  of  all  men.  Our  Lord  through 
his  Church  offers  himself  to  our  needs,  calling 
us  to  come  to  him  and  find  in  him  all  that  we  can 
desire.  Another  way  of  expressing  the  same  fact 
is  to  say  that  the  Church  is  equipped  with  all  the 
means  necessary  for  ministry  to  men.  Men  find 
themselves  sinful,  in  need  of  forgiveness,  of  puri- 


46       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

fication,  of  renewed  strength;  they  experience  the 
grace  of  sacraments  and  long  for  greater  advance 
in  hoHness  of  Hfe;  then,  they  find  in  the  Body  of 
Christ  the  resources  which  supply  all  their  needs 
whatsoever  they  are.  It  is  this  quality  of  inex- 
haustible resource,  as  we  might  call  it,  which  en- 
ables the  Church  to  appeal  with  confidence  to  all 
races  and  nations.  We  have  no  hesitation  in 
sending  missionaries  to  nations  far  removed  from 
us  in  race  and  stage  of  culture;  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary goes  to  the  lowest  tribes  of  savages,  he 
goes  to  the  nations  of  the  Far  East  with  their 
elaborate  and  ancient  civilization;  he  meets  the 
dwellers  in  the  jungle  and  the  dwellers  in  palaces; 
and  with  all  he  has  the  same  certainty  that  the  reli- 
gion that  he  has  to  ofYer  is  the  religion  they  need. 
It  is  the  quality  of  a  sect  that  it  appeals  to  that 
which  is  peculiar  and  local.  A  sect  sees  some 
truth,  or  what  it  takes  to  be  such,  with  great  clear- 
ness and  stresses  it  to  the  exclusion  of  other 
truths.  It  gathers  those  to  whom  the  peculiar 
sect-truth  seems  important  and  to  whom  it  is  con- 
genial, and  often  great  energy  is  developed  in  the 
propagation  of  the  truth.  Sects  in  their  origin 
are  zealous  because  of  the  concentration  of  effort 
they  have  effected  —  their  whole  energy  is  di- 
rected to  one  point.  The  Catholic  Church  seems 
cold  in  comparison,  and  is  reproached  with  being 


CATHOLICITY  47 

formal  and  unspiritual;  but  the  Church  has  to 
hold  the  whole  truth  and  may  not  for  the  sake  of 
a  momentary  advantage  at  one  point  sacrifice  the 
wholeness,  the  Catholicity  of  its  faith. 

It  is  no  easy  thing  to  maintain  this  Catholic 
grasp  on  the  Christian  religion  as  a  whole,  to  be 
ever  on  the  watch  lest  our  religion  become  in  fact 
sectarian.  That  is  one  of  the  first  dangers  the 
Church  had  to  meet  at  the  outset  of  its  career. 
There  was  a  time  during  which  it  must  have 
looked  from  the  outside  as  though  the  Church 
were  going  to  stagnate  for  a  while  as  a  Jewish 
sect  and  then  vanish  away.  Its  members  seemed 
incapable  of  seeing  past  the  Jewish  Law.  It  was 
S.  Paul  who  was  inspired  with  the  vision  of  the 
Catholic  Church  and  who  declined  to  be  confined 
within  the  bonds  of  some  new  and  only  slightly 
more  elastic  Judaism.  To  S.  Paul  the  Incarna- 
tion meant  the  breaking  down  of  all  that  divided 
men,  the  removal  of  all  obstacles  to  the  carrying 
of  the  salvation  that  is  in  Christ  to  all  men.  Be- 
fore S.  Paul's  vision  the  walls  of  nationality  fell 
down ;  race  was  as  nothing ;  social  distinctions  did 
not  exist.     Christ  is  all  and  in  all. 

Through  this  sense  of  its  adaptation  to  univer- 
sal human  nature  Catholicity  gains  the  notion  of 
Orthodoxy,  when  divisions  arise.  The  sect  or 
party,  as  we  have  seen,  is  such  because  it  grasps 


48       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

one  truth  or  one  aspect  of  truth,  and  draws  its 
strength  from  the  concentrated  effort  that  this 
makes  possible.  But  the  Catholic  Church  cannot 
insist  on  any  one  truth  because  it  has  all  truth  as 
its  trust.  But  Catholicity  stands  more  firmly  in 
the  long  run.  It  will  lose  locally  and  temporarily 
while  some  one  aspect  of  religion  catches  the  pub- 
lic eye  or  falls  in  with  the  popular  taste;  and  it 
will  be  soundly  abused  as  out  of  touch  with  the 
modern  mind.  When  metaphysical  theology  was 
in  fashion  the  Church  was  roundly  abused  for  its 
insistence  on  good  works;  now  that  good  works 
are  all  the  rage  and  men  are  saved  by  social  serv- 
ice, the  Church  is  abused  for  its  insistence  on 
metaphysical  theology.  But  wisdom  is  justified 
of  all  her  children.  The  fret  of  the  weather  — 
rain  and  wind  and  wave  constantly  breaks  ofif 
masses  of  ice  from  the  glacier,  which  sail  gaily 
out  to  sea  and  presently  melt  and  vanish ;  but  the 
glacier  remains. 

In  a  wider  sense  the  Church  is  Catholic  as  com- 
prising all  the  elect.  It  is  the  Communion  of 
Saints.  Much  of  our  difficulty  would  be  avoided 
if  we  would  remember  that.  We  lose  heart  be- 
cause of  the  petty  divisions  of  the  Church  here. 
We  are  disheartened  and  ashamed  of  our  presen- 
tation of  the  Gospel  whether  among  some  heathen 
tribes  or  in  an   American  village.     Nothing  is 


CATHOLICITY  49 

more  disheartening  than  the  village  with  its  hand- 
ful of  inhabitants  and  its  dozen  of  "  churches  " — 
all  practically  empty  of  a  Sunday  morning,  while 
roads  swarm  with  motors.  But  whatever  these 
empty  edifices  signify  they  do  not  prove  that  the 
Church  is  divided.  They  are  evidence  that  our 
understanding  of  the  Gospel  is  faulty,  and  our 
attempt  to  present  it  in  great  measure  failure ;  but 
the  Church  of  God  still  remains,  notwithstanding 
our  efforts  to  wreck  it.  Our  divisions  are  but  the 
angry  waves  on  the  surface  of  the  ocean,  stirred 
by  storms  and  capable  of  doing  a  certain  amount 
of  damage ;  but  the  great  underlying  depths  of  the 
ocean  are  undisturbed.  So  the  central  life  of  the 
Church  is  untouched  in  its  union  with  our  Lord. 

I  do  not  want  to  minimise  the  disaster  of  divi- 
sions; but  we  must  be  clear  what  the  disaster  is 
and  the  extent  of  the  damage.  It  is  disaster  to 
certain  souls;  but  the  life  of  the  Church  is  un- 
touched in  its  Catholic  Unity.  It  is  the  one  Home 
of  God's  elect.  Into  the  Haven  behind  the  veil 
there  are  streaming  constantly  the  souls  who  have 
been  rescued  from  the  trials  of  earth  and  are  en- 
tered into  their  rest.  We  of  the  Church  Militant 
are  but  a  missionary  station  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  and  we  stress  too  much  our  importance 
when  we  cry  that  the  Kingdom  is  lost  when  there 
has  been  at  most  an  affair  of  outposts.     Let  us 


50       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

remember  that  the  Catholicity  of  the  Church  is  a 
quahty  of  the  Body  of  Christ;  we  may  cut  our- 
selves away  from  that  body,  but  the  body  will 
remain  and  will  remain  Catholic. 

Again :  because  the  Church  is  Catholic  it  is  ex- 
clusive. We  are  tempted  to-day  to  a  notion  of 
Catholicity  which  is  merely  inclusive  and  there- 
fore characterless.  The  "  great  church  "  of  mod- 
ern Protestantism  is  an  attempt  to  escape  the  plain 
meaning  of  the  results  of  division  by  setting  up  a 
false  ideal  of  a  Catholic  Church  as  a  body  com- 
posed of  all  sorts  of  well  meaning  people  who  have 
agreed  to  disregard  their  differences  and  play  at 
being  one.  This  might  be  possible  if  the  Chris- 
tian religion  were  a  human  discovery.  If  it  be- 
longed to  men  they  might  do  as  they  liked  with 
it.  But  it  is  in  fact  a  revelation  committed  to 
the  Church  to  keep;  the  Church  is  its  custodian 
and  cannot  act  as  though  it  were  lord  of  it.  It 
must,  as  trustee,  teach  truth  and  deny  error.  It 
is  tolerant,  but  there  are  necessary  limits  of  tol- 
eration. It  can  tolerate  the  presence  of  intel- 
lectual sinners,  as  it  can  of  any  other  sinners ;  but 
it  has  no  right  to  tolerate  their  sin.  There  is  no 
charity  in  suffering  a  disease-breeding  center  to 
exist  because  it  may  hurt  some  one's  feelings  to 
attack  it;  and  it  is  not  charity  to  let  falsehood 
go  unrebuked  and  misstatement  uncorrected  be- 


CATHOLICITY  51 

cause  the  propagators  of  error  are  well-meaning 
people.  If  any  Christian  body  approve  error  it 
destroys,  so  far  forth,  its  Christian  character. 
1  say,  so  far  forth,  because  it  appears  that  the 
Catholicity  of  the  local  church  may  be  grievously 
injured,  without  being  destroyed.  For  example, 
the  assertion  of  the  Roman  Church  as  to  the  pa- 
pacy seems  not  to  have  wholly  destroyed  its 
Catholicity.  But  it  is  inconceivable  that  the 
whole  Church  should  ever  affirm  untruth;  our 
Lord's  promise  must  be  held  to  deny  that.  If  the 
Church  could  affirm  error,  Christianity  would  be 
reduced  to  a  philosophy,  a  system  of  speculation 
rather  than  a  system  of  truth. 

We  will  note  one  other  characteristic  of  Ca- 
tholicity: wherever  the  Church  is,  it  is  wholly. 
*'  Where  two  or  three  are  gathered  together  in 
my  Name,  there  am  I  in  the  midst  of  them." 
The  Catholic  Church  is  not  achieved  by  a  sum  in 
addition ;  it  is  not  that  all  the  '*  local  "  or  "  na- 
tional "  churches  *'  make  up "  the  Catholic 
Church.  The  Catholic  Church  is  a  divine  and 
heavenly  fact  that  is  manifested  in  this  or  that 
place;  i.  e.,  all  the  powers  and  graces  of  the  Cath- 
oHc  Church  are  wherever  it  at  all  is. 

Amid  our  present  divisions  it  is  felt  that  there 
is  great  difficulty  in  discovering  the  Catholic 
Church.     It  were  an  easy  way  out  of  the  diffi- 


52        THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

culty  to  identify  some  one  existing  body,  e.  g., 
the  Orthodox  or  the  Roman  CathoHc,  with  the 
Cathohc  Church ;  but  the  problem  is  not  quite  so 
simple.  But  if  it  cannot  be  solved  in  this  way, 
how  are  we  to  solve  it?  If  there  may  be  error 
in  the  local  attempts  to  express  the  truth  whether 
in  Constantinople  or  Rome  or  Canterbury,  are 
we  not  very  much  at  sea  ?  Are  there  any  practi- 
cal tests  of  Catholicity? 

There  would  seem  to  be  no  reason  for  casting 
aside  the  well  known  tests  proposed  by  S.  Vin- 
cent of  Lerins.  They  have  to  be  applied  with  a 
certain  amount  of  common  sense,  as  indeed  S. 
Vincent  himself  applied  them,  and  not  in  a 
wooden  way ;  but  so  applied  they  give  us,  I  think, 
the  tests  we  want.     S.  Vincent  says : 

"  In  the  Catholic  Church  itself  we  take  great  care 
that  we  hold  that  which  has  been  believed  every- 
where, always,  by  all.  For  that  is  truly  and  prop- 
erly *  Catholic/  as  the  very  force  and  meaning  of 
the  word  shows,  which  comprehends  everything 
almost  universally.  And  we  shall  observe  this  rule 
if  we  follow  universality,  antiquity,  consent.  We 
shall  follow  universality  if  we  confess  that  one 
Faith  to  be  true  which  the  whole  Church  through- 
out the  world  confesses;  antiquity  if  we  in  no  wise 
depart  from  those  interpretations  which  it  is  plain 
that  our  ancestors  and  fathers  proclaimed ;  consent 
if  in  antiquity  itself  we  eagerly  follow  the  defini- 


CATHOLICITY  53 

tions   and   beliefs  of   all,   or  certainly  nearly  all, 
priests  and  doctors  alike." 

That  then  is  Catholic  which  is  everywhere  held 
and  taught  in  the  Church.  When  a  doctrine  is 
proposed  as  Catholic  we  have  in  the  first  place 
to  look  to  its  universality.  The  local  is  checked 
by  the  universal.  This  test  at  once  excludes  local 
peculiarities,  not  as  necessarily  untrue,  but  as  not 
being  binding  on  Christians  with  the  necessity  of 
Faith.  The  teaching  of  a  Church  like  the  Angli- 
can may  contain  many  things  which  are  the  out- 
come of  the  historical  circumstances  of  England 
during  the  last  few  centuries;  these  may  be  true 
and  they  may  be  important,  but  they  cannot  be 
imposed  as  Catholic.  Fortunately  the  Anglican 
Communion  has  not  been  given  to  Creed  making 
and  has  nothing  to  take  back  in  these  matters. 

This  note  of  everyzvhere  is,  of  course,  common 
sense.  Christianity  is  a  revealed  religion,  and 
whatever  was  revealed  in  it  to  be  held  with  the 
necessity  of  faith  must  have  been  as  necessary 
in  the  first  century  as  in  the  twentieth;  and  is  as 
necessary  for  one  set  of  Christians  as  for  another. 
If  it  appears  then  that  certain  groups  of  Chris- 
tians are  insisting  on  certain  dogmas  as  "  of 
faith, '^  which  are  unknown  to  other  Christians, 
then  they  fail  of  the  test  of  universality  and  may 
be  set  aside  so  far  as  their  claim  to  Catholicity  is 
concerned. 


54        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

That  faith  must  not  only  have  been  universally 
held,  but  it  must  have  been  so  held  from  the  be- 
ginning. It  is  conceivable  that  we  should  dis- 
cover in  Christendom  a  dogma  or  practice  which 
makes  the  claim  of  Catholicity  and  which  sup- 
ports its  claim  by  an  appeal  to  universal  accept- 
ance; and  yet  it  may  turn  out  on  examination 
that  the  belief  or  practice  is  a  complete  novelty 
—  that  its  origin  and  development  can  be  traced 
back  to  the  period  of  the  Reformation  or  to  the 
Middle  Ages.  It  can  be  demonstrated  that  it  has 
not  been  always  believed.  It  therefore  fails  to 
be  recognized  as  Catholic.  What  was  of  faith 
at  the  beginning,  is  of  faith  now ;  what  is  of  faith 
now  must  have  been  so  from  the  beginning.  The 
function  of  the  Christian  Church  in  matters  of 
faith  is  not  to  invent  but  to  transmit.  What  is 
called  development  of  doctrine  is  either  the  at- 
tempt to  add  to  the  faith  new  dogmas  (which  is 
illegitimate),  or  is  but  the  completer  statement 
of  what  has  always  been  held.  This  latter,  which 
is  always  going  on,  is  not  a  process  of  developing 
truth-germs,  but  is  a  further  thinking  into  old 
truths  which  must  always  take  place  where  the 
truths  are  being  used.  We  believe  in  God, 
Father,  Son  and  Holy  Spirit;  and  all  Christians 
have  been  bound  to  so  believe  from  the  begin- 
ning; but  the  mind  of  the  Church  finds  fuller 


CATHOLICITY  55 

content  in  these  words  as  the  centuries  go  on. 

The  third  Vincentian  test  is  that  the  truth  pro- 
posed to  us  must  be  a  truth  accepted  by  all,  by 
which  it  is  meant  that  the  recognition  of  the  truth 
must  be  by  a  moral  universality,  not  by  a  numer- 
ical unity.  S.  Vincent  does  not  mean  "  all  Chris- 
tians ";  he  is  careful  to  say,  "  by  all,  or  certainly 
nearly  all,  priests  and  doctors  alike."  Dr.  Kidd 
points  out  that  S.  Vincent  really  means  by  priests, 
bishops;  that  is  the  actual  appeal  is  to  those  to 
whom  has  been  committed  by  our  Lord  the  keep- 
ing of  the  Faith. 

This  process  of  identification  of  the  faith,  so 
to  call  it,  is  seen  in  the  method  of  the  statement 
of  the  faith  through  the  CEcumenical  Councils. 
Those  Councils  do  not  meet  from  time  to  time 
in  the  history  of  the  Church  to  set  forth  new 
dogmas  of  the  faith;  but  they  meet,  when  the 
faith  is  being  denied,  to  testify  as  to  what  is  the 
faith.  They  do  not  say.  This  shall  be  the  faith 
from  henceforth;  they  say.  This  has  been  the 
faith  from  the  beginning.  And  their  testimony 
is  not  final;  it  requires  ratification  by  the  mind 
of  the  Church.  It  is  not  till  the  decrees  of  CEcu- 
menical Councils  have  been  accepted,  in  S.  Vin- 
cent's words,  by  "  all,  or  certainly  nearly  all, 
priests  and  doctors  aHke  ''  that  they  are  of  Catho- 
lic force. 


56        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

This  Vincentian  test  does  not  present  a  proper 
restatement  of  the  articles  of  the  faith.  To-day 
the  need  of  restatement  is  being  urged  with  great 
force  and  insistence.  Restatement  is  always 
needed.  Each  generation  has  to  think  over  its 
faith  in  the  terms  of  its  own  experience.  But  a 
proper  restatement  must  be  one  that  preserves, 
not  destroys,  the  thing  restated.  One  rather 
more  than  suspects  that  some  of  the  loudest  advo- 
cates of  restatement  would,  if  they  were  frank, 
be  advocates  of  destruction.  It  is  not  a  restate- 
ment of  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  to  deny  that  our  Lord  rose  again  the 
third  day  with  his  entire  humanity;  or  that  we 
shall  in  any  sense  have  a  bodily  resurrection. 
But  to  define  the  word  body  in  terms  of  our  pres- 
ent knowledge  of  matter,  and  not  in  terms  of  an- 
cient or  mediaeval  science,  would  seem  to  be 
proper  restatement. 

What  we  have  most  to  see  to  is  that  we  hold 
fast  the  faith  once  for  all  delivered  to  the  saints, 
and  which  has  been  everywhere,  always  and  by  all 
believed.     So  doing  we  shall  be  Catholics. 

Note.—  I  am  greatly  indebted  to  the  following :  Lacey, 
"  Catholicity."  The  Young  Churchman  Co.,  Milwaukee, 
Wis.  Kidd,  "How  Can  I  be  Sure  that  I  am  a  Catholic?" 
In  Modern  Oxford  Tracts.    Longmans,  Green  &  Co,  1914. 


IV 

THE  ENGLISH  REFORMATION 

^TT^HERE,"  asked  the  Roman  controversial- 
VJL/  ist,  "  was  your  Church  before  the  Refor- 
mation?" "Where,"  was  the  AngHcan  retort 
courteous,  "  was  your  face  before  you  washed 
it?"  The  same  truth  has  been  expressed  with 
more  suavity  by  Bishop  Bramhall,  who  said,  "  I 
make  no  doubt  that  the  Church  of  England  before 
the  Reformation  and  the  Church  of  England 
after  the  Reformation  are  as  much  the  same 
church  as  a  garden  before  it  is  weeded  and  after 
it  is  weeded  is  the  same  garden."  The  weeding 
of  gardens,  however,  is  a  delicate  process  not  apt 
to  be  successfully  prosecuted  by  amateurs;  the 
expert  is  needed,  else  the  flowers  will  go  and  the 
weeds  remain. 

Looking  at  the  Reformation  in  Western  Eu- 
rope as  a  whole  there  is  evidence  of  a  good  deal 
of  amateurish  work.  ''  Plough  up  the  garden 
and  make  a  new  start,"  was  a  ruling  maxim  when 
institutions,  beliefs,  practices,  good,  bad,  and  in- 
different, were  swept  out  of  existence,  and  new 

57 


58       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

churches  with  new  theologies  erected  on  the  site 
of  the  old.  As  we  look  back  at  the  process  we 
are  not  convinced  of  its  necessity  or  desirability. 
There  were,  no  doubt,  abuses  and  superstitions 
connected  with  current  beliefs  and  practices  at  the 
close  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  the  matter  of  "  Pur- 
gatory, Pardons,  Worshipping,  and  Adoration  as 
well  of  images  as  of  relics,  and  also  invocation 
of  Saints  " ;  but  to  utterly  abolish  the  thing  abused 
is  not  to  reform  it.  There  were  doubtless  abuses 
in  the  Episcopal  administration  in  many  places, 
but  they  were  not  corrected  by  the  suppression  of 
the  Episcopate  and  the  confiscation  of  the  prop- 
erty of  the  Church  by  the  State.  So  old  and 
widespread  an  institution  as  Monasticism  was 
bound  to  have  its  faults ;  but  they  were  not  made 
good  by  wiping  the  institution  out  of  existence 
and  purchasing  support  for  the  Reformation  by 
transferring  the  property  of  the  religious  houses 
to  court  favorites.  Looking  at  the  results  of  the 
Reformation  as  a  whole  they  do  not  give  much 
encouragement.  We  can  to-day  see  that  the  type 
of  religion  produced  is  not  higher  than  that  of  the 
Middle  Ages.  We  see  the  churches  of  the  Lu- 
theran tradition  mere  instruments  of  the  authori- 
ties of  the  state,  and  those  of  Calvinistic  tradition 
a  mere  reflection  of  the  popular  mind. 

Have  we  anything  better  to   say  about   the 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  59 

Church  of  England  and  its  children  in  the  British 
Colonies  and  America?  I  think  we  have.  This 
at  least  is  true,  that  the  Reformation  in  England 
took  its  own  decided  line  and  was  based  on  prin- 
ciples which  were  quite  different  from  those 
which  shaped  the  continental  Reformation.  We 
may  express  the  difference  broadly  as  follows: 
that  whereas  the  continental  Reformation  was 
fundamentally  doctrinal,  the  English  Reformation 
was  fundamentally  constitutional. 

The  continental  Reformation  issued  in  a  new 
constitution  and  a  new  theology :  the  English 
Reformation  issued  in  a  reassertion  of  the  con- 
stitutional principles  which  had  governed  the 
Church  in  the  first  centuries  of  its  existence.  The 
Continental  Reformation  claimed  to  revert  to  the 
religion  of  the  Bible,  but  in  reality,  by  its  repudia- 
tion of  all  authority  of  interpretation  and  its 
assertion  of  the  right  of  private  judgment,  made 
not  the  Bible,  but  what  any  Reformer  thought  the 
Bible  taught  the  standard  of  doctrine.  The  Eng- 
lish Reformation,  by  its  appeal  to  the  Scriptures 
as  interpreted  by  the  Christian  past,  avoided  indi- 
vidualism and  gained  an  intelligible  principle  of 
theological  statement. 

There  is  nothing  more  foolish  at  this  late  day 
than  to  attribute  the  English  Reformation  and  the 
origin  of  the  English  Church  to  Henry  the  Eighth. 


6o       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

No  doubt  Henry's  matrimonial  infelicities  gave 
room  for  the  English  discontent  with  things  as 
they  were  in  the  Church  to  develop,  and  shaped 
the  course  taken  by  reforming  legislation.  But 
every  religious  movement  in  the  whole  history  of 
the  Church  has  been  conditioned  and  shaped  in 
its  course  by  the  accidents  of  its  setting.  Our 
Lord  suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate,  but  the 
Christian  religion  does  not  derive  its  virtue  from 
that  historical  incident.  The  Nicene  definition 
of  our  Lord's  consubstantiality  with  the  Father 
is  largely  conditioned  by  the  conversion  of  Con- 
stantine  and  the  subsequent  effects  of  his  reign; 
but  it  is  not  true  that  the  Catholic  doctrine  as  set 
forth  by  the  Council  is  due  to  Constantine.  The 
events  of  Henry's  reign  shaped  the  course  of  the 
Anglican  Reformation,  and  gave  color  to  many 
of  its  events ;  but  it  did  not  originate  a  new 
Church.  On  the  contrary,  the  continual  assertion 
of  Reformation  legislation  was  that  the  old 
Church  was  asserting  its  rights  and  emerging 
from  the  papal  bondage.  Henry's  character  was 
not  an  important  factor,  and  it  is  absurd  that  the 
Churches  of  the  Anglican  rite  would  be  re- 
proached with  the  character  of  Henry  the  Eighth, 
especially  by  the  children  of  the  Church  which 
placed  Alexander  VI  on  the  papal  throne  and 
made  de  Retz  Cardinal  Archbishop  of  Paris.     At 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  6l 

most  the  English  Church  inherited  Henry  VIII; 
it  did  not  freely  prefer  him. 

There  would  have  been  a  reformation  in  Eng- 
land though  Henry  VIII  had  never  been  born. 
The  causes  had  long  been  working  and  the  most 
superficial  knowledge  of  the  history  of  England 
during  the  centuries  preceding  the  Reformation 
makes  clear  the  vast  amount  of  unrest  and  dis- 
satisfaction that  was  generated  by  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  papal  claims.  The  day  of  infallibil- 
ity was  not  yet.  The  Roman  claims  took  the 
form  of  the  assertion  of  the  right  of  jurisdiction 
over  the  whole  Church.  Whatever  were  the  for- 
tunes or  misfortunes  of  individual  popes  during 
the  Middle  Ages,  the  policies  of  the  papacy  re- 
mained the  same.  It  was  a  policy  of  steadily 
asserting  claims  which  by  virtue  of  their  continu- 
ous assertion  came  at  length  to  have  the  color  of 
antiquity.  A  claim  which  is  always  being  made 
will  have  its  moments  of  success,  which  will  more 
than  offset  its  moments  of  failure;  for  any  suc- 
cess can  be  quoted  as  a  precedent  in  the  future. 

And  no  doubt  the  claims  of  the  papacy  to  exer- 
cise jurisdiction  met  with  growing  success  and 
recognition.  There  were  many  reasons  why  this 
should  be  so.  The  claim  of  the  papacy  was  to  be 
court  of  final  appeal,  and  in  case  of  an  appeal  the 
court  will  always  make  at  least  one  friend.     If 


62        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

the  papacy  supported  the  local  ruler  in  his  troubles 
and  brought  him  the  backing  of  the  hierarchy  and 
the  monastic  orders,  it  was  a  favor  he  would  be 
quite  inclined  to  recompense  by  some  acknowl- 
edgment of  the  power  that  aided  him.  If  the 
papacy  intervened  to  support  the  local  clergy 
against  Episcopal  tyranny,  or  the  Episcopate 
against  the  lay  power,  it  would  in  either  case  make 
friends  of  the  mammon  of  unrighteousness.  In 
the  insecurity  of  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  undoubt- 
edly of  advantage  to  have  an  international  power 
which  could  intervene  in  national  disputes,  and  if 
the  power  had  acted  with  fairly  uniform  justice 
and  claimed  no  more  than  a  customary  jurisdic- 
tion, all  would  have  been  well.  The  trouble  arose 
from  this,  that  the  papacy  claimed  its  jurisdiction 
as  of  divine  right  and  as  of  undefined  content 
and  exercised  it  in  ways  that  were  tyrannical  and 
unjust.  By  the  close  of  the  XVth  century  it 
had  become  plain  to  all  men  that  the  chief  end  of 
the  exercise  of  the  papal  jurisdiction  was  the  ag- 
grandizement of  the  papacy.  The  burden  of  tax- 
ation constantly  increased.  The  number  of  the 
rich  bishoprics  and  benefices  of  the  English 
Church  which  were  given  by  papal  authority  to 
the  Italians  of  the  papal  entourage  passed  all 
bounds.  The  cost  and  inconvenience  of  appeals 
to  Rome  had  become  oppressive  in  the  extreme. 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  63 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  in  the  century  pre- 
ceding the  Reformation  England  was  quite  openly 
looted  in  the  interests  of  the  papal  curia.  As  a 
consequence  there  was  great  restlessness  and  many 
attempts  were  made  to  check  the  abuses  of  the 
papal  jurisdiction  by  legislation. 

If  there  had  arisen  in  the  English  Church  at 
this  time  a  strong  leader  of  the  type  of  Luther 
or  Calvin  whose  interests  were  predominantly  the- 
ological, the  discontent  with  Rome  might  have 
been  turned  in  the  same  direction  as  on  the  Con- 
tinent, and  a  revolution  followed  by  the  erection 
of  an  entirely  new  church  might  have  taken  place. 
Fortunately  no  such  leader  arose.  Henry  VIII 
had  no  interest  in  a  theological  revolution,  but 
remained  theologically  a  Catholic  unto  the  end. 
His  quarrel  was  with  the  papacy,  and  the  parlia- 
ment and  convocation  were  content  to  follow  his 
lead,  and  to  declare  their  independence  of  Rome. 
This  was  a  very  simple  matter  to  accomplish. 
Legislation  was  passed  forbidding  appeals  to 
Rome  and  asserting  the  competence  of  the  English 
Church  to  terminate  all  cases  in  her  own  courts, 
and  the  Roman  jurisdiction  was  gone!  The  ec- 
clesiastical side  of  the  assertion  of  Anglican  free- 
dom was  this :  that  "  the  Bishop  of  Rome  hath 
no  greater  jurisdiction  in  England  than  any  other 
foreign  bishop."     There  was  no  need  of  a  theo- 


64        THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

logical  revolution,  neither  the  constitution  nor  the 
creed  of  the  Church  were  touched,  but  the  Refor- 
mation was  accomplished. 

The  close  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII  saw  the 
English  Church  freed  from  the  universal  juris- 
diction of  Rome,  in  full  control  of  its  own  affairs. 
Nothing  that  it  had  done  separated  it  from  the 
unity  of  the  Catholic  Church.  Communion  with 
Rome  was  in  abeyance,  but  might  be  resumed  at 
any  time  that  Rome  should  consent  to  recognize 
the  legitimate  rights  and  powers  of  the  Anglican 
Church.  The  Anglican  Church,  in  fact,  has  never 
excommunicated  Rome,  nor  withdrawn  from 
its  communion;  the  guilt  of  schism  lies  on  the 
Roman  side,  and  if  unity  was  preserved,  so  far 
as  the  English  Church  was  concerned,  so  was  the 
entire  Catholic  constitution  of  the  Church.  Its 
creeds  are  unchanged,  and  no  new  articles  have 
been  added  to  them.  It  Vv-as  still  governed  by  a 
hierarchy  consisting  of  bishops,  priests,  and  dea- 
cons ;  it  maintained  the  same  worship  and  admin- 
istered the  same  sacraments.  The  Church  of  Eng- 
land at  the  death  of  Henry  VIII  was  the  same 
church  that  it  was  at  his  accession,  and  nothing 
had  been  done  to  affect  its  Catholic  character. 

There  had  been  begun  in  the  last  part  of  Hen- 
ry's reign  a  revision  of  the  devotional  formularies 
of  the  church.     The  Bible  had  been  translated 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  6$ 

into  English  and  set  up  in  each  church,  and  it 
was  ordered  that  a  chapter  should  be  read  from 
it  after  the  Te  Deum  and  Magnificat.  The  Lit- 
any was  issued  in  English  for  use  in  church. 
Cranmer  was  occupied  in  translating  and  reform- 
ing the  service  books  of  the  Church  when  the 
King  died. 

With  the  accession  of  Edward  VI  we  enter 
upon  a  new  stage  in  the  Reformation.  For  the 
next  century  the  question  for  the  English  Church 
was  whether  it  was  to  be  carried  in  a  Protestant 
direction  and  lose  its  Catholic  character,  or 
whether  it  would  be  able  to  hold  substantially  the 
position  it  had  taken  before  the  accession  of  Ed- 
ward. We  must  remember  that  while  the  King 
and  convocation  had  held  steadily  to  the  Catholic 
belief  and  practice,  England  was  not  so  isolated 
as  to  be  uninfluenced  by  the  Protestant  Reforma- 
tion on  the  Continent.  The  writings  of  the  Con- 
tinental reformers  had  wide  circulation  in  Eng- 
land, notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  govern- 
ment to  prevent  it.  They  influenced  many,  and 
the  party  which  looked  for  guidance  to  the 
Continent  came  into  power  at  the  accession  of 
Edward.  The  King  himself  was  but  nine  years 
old,  and  the  actual  power  fell  into  the  hands  of 
Somerset,  and  after  his  fall  into  those  of  North- 
umberland.    The  chief  interest  they  had  was  in 


66       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

plundering  the  Church.  What  property  had  been 
left  by  Henry  VIII  was  speedily  seized  by  the 
government  of  Edward  VI.  It  is  a  sordid  tale 
which  fortunately  it  does  not  fall  to  us  to  retell. 
The  first  prayer  book  of  Edward  VI  was  pub- 
lished in  1549,  as  we  have  noted.  Archbishop 
Cranmer  was  at  work  on  it  before  the  death  of 
Henry  VIII.  It  was  a  book  of  great  merit  and 
all  subsequent  revisions  of  the  Prayer  Book  ex- 
cept the  first  have  looked  back  to  it  and  worked 
nearer  to  it.  It  translated  the  old  Latin  services 
and  simplified  them.  This  they  much  needed,  as 
in  the  course  of  centuries  they  had  become  very 
complex  and  unfitted  for  popular  services  such  as 
the  Prayer  Book  undertook  to  provide.  The 
result  was  that  the  seven  hours,  which  were  es- 
sentially monastic  services,  were  condensed  into 
the  Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  or  the  new 
book.  The  principal  point  of  the  new  services 
was  that  they  secured  the  continuous  reading  of 
the  Psalter  through  the  month  and  the  reading  of 
the  whole  Bible  in  the  daily  lessons.  The  prin- 
cipal service  was  that  which  had  for  its  title  in 
the  new  book  ''  The  Supper  of  the  Lord  and  Holy 
Communion,  commonly  called  the  Mass."  This 
was  the  revision  of  the  Latin  mass,  retaining  all 
its  essential  features  as  they  had  existed  from  the 
earliest  times,  only  simplifying  or  omitting  non- 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  (>"] 

essential  elements.  The  book  is  thoroughly 
Catholic  in  all  its  provisions.  It  retained  the  eu- 
charistic  vestments  which  were  inherited  from 
the  past.  The  rubrics  were  much  simplified,  but 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  traditional  ceremonial 
would  have  continued  in  use  except  in  case  of 
priests  of  Protestant  leanings,  who  no  doubt 
would  have  discontinued  much  of  it. 

There  was,  of  course,  more  or  less  opposition, 
both  from  conservatives  who  disliked  change  of 
any  sort,  and  from  the  governing  Protestant 
party  who  detested  the  whole  theological  position 
of  the  book.  The  latter  party  was  soon  able  to 
make  its  power  felt. 

With  the  accession  of  Edward  VI  reformers 
from  the  continent  began  to  come  over  to  Eng- 
land in  great  numbers,  with  the  benevolent  inten- 
tion of  helping  on  the  Reformation  of  the  English 
Church.  They  had  their  natural  allies  in  those 
whose  interests  lay  in  the  direction  of  further 
plunder  of  the  Church.  The  Protestant  party 
thought  that  nothing  had  as  yet  been  done  in  the 
way  of  reform  and  were  most  anxious  for  a 
further  change  in  the  formularies  of  the  Church. 
The  party  of  plunder  had  the  greater  success. 
What  endowments  had  been  left  by  their  prede- 
cessors they  seized.  They  plundered  and  dis- 
persed the  ancient  libraries,  selling  them  for  old 


68        THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

paper.  Not  a  book  or  manuscript  was  left  in  the 
library  of  the  University  of  Oxford.  Westmin- 
ster Abbey  narrowly  escaped  being  pulled  down 
to  furnish  material  for  the  new  palace  for  Som- 
erset. The  parish  churches  were  plundered  of 
their  vestments;  chalices  were  melted  down  or 
used  for  goblets;  bells  and  the  lead  from  church 
roofs  were  sold ;  vestments  were  sold  and  turned 
to  domestic  uses.  Thus  Protestantism  furthered 
the  cause  of  progress  in  education  and  the  arts. 

Naturally  the  first  Prayer  Book  would  prove 
unacceptable  to  such  as  these,  but  they  did  not 
find  it  easy  to  change  it.  The  new  prayer  book 
was  prepared  which  was  but  a  slight  revision  of 
the  old,  but  the  act  of  Uniformity  which  was  to 
give  it  legal  standing,  actually  declared  it  to  be 
unnecessary  by  its  statement  that  the  first  book 
was  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God  and  the  primi- 
tive Church.  The  book  w^as  Catholic  in  essen- 
tials, though  less  Catholic  in  details,  than  the  first 
book.  Vestments  were  forbidden;  invocation  of 
saints  and  angels  and  prayers  for  the  dead  were 
stricken  out.  It  is  not  necessary  to  say  much 
about  it,  as  it  is  important  only  as  showing  how 
little  the  Protestant  party  was  able  to  do  in  the 
hour  of  their  highest  success  in  England.  It 
never  came  into  general  use,  as  the  death  of  Ed- 
ward opened  the  way  for  a  reaction. 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  69 

The  excesses  of  the  Protestant  party  made  de- 
cent folk  ready  to  go  back  to  the  state  of  things 
before  the  Reformation.  It  was  unavoidable  that 
the  reign  of  Mary  should  be  reactionary.  The 
Protestant  leaders  promptly  ran  back  to  the  Con- 
tinent at  the  note  of  danger  and  many  EngHsh 
clergy  of  kindred  mind  accompanied  them. 
Mary  had  little  trouble  in  bringing  England  back 
to  the  papal  obedience,  and  would  have  had  little 
trouble  in  keeping  it  there  had  she  been  content 
to  rule  as  an  English  woman  with  an  EngHsh 
policy.  But  her  marriage  with  Philip  of  Spain 
and  her  subjection  of  England  to  Spanish  inter- 
ests, together  with  the  violent  persecution  she  set 
up,  rendered  her  unpopular,  and  what  is  more 
important,  generated  so  great  a  hatred  of  the 
papal  religion  that  it  has  been  very  difficult  to 
teach  not  only  Romanism,  but  Catholicism,  in 
England  ever  since. 

Fortunately  Mary's  reign  was  brief  and  the 
accession  of  her  half-sister,  Elizabeth,  brought 
England  back  to  sanity  and  a  certain  measure  of 
freedom.  Unfortunately  the  hostility  of  Spain 
and  Rome  threw  Elizabeth  in  a  large  measure 
back  upon  the  Protestant  party  for  support.  The 
English  clergy  who  had  taken  refuge  on  the  Con- 
tinent came  back  with  an  accentuated  Protestant- 
ism, clamoring  for  radical  reformation.     There 


70        THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

remained,  of  course,  a  considerable  element  in  the 
Church  who  preferred  to  be  left  to  the  old  ways 
undisturbed.  There  was  also  what  we  may  call 
an  Anglican  party  whose  position  would  be  rep- 
resented by  the  first  prayer  book  of  Edward  VI. 
The  inclinations  of  the  Queen  were  to  the  policies 
of  her  father,  and  it  was  her  steadiness  in  oppo- 
sition to  Protestantism  which  no  doubt  saved  the 
Catholic  heritage  of  the  Church.  She  made  it 
possible  for  the  clergy  who  valued  the  Catholic 
position  of  the  Church  to  maintain  themselves  and 
make  progress  in  the  face  of  the  Protestant  propa- 
ganda which  was  always  going  on.  The  changes 
in  the  formularies  of  the  Church  during  this  reign 
were  slight.  The  new  Prayer  Book  came  into 
use  in  1559  and  was  at  once  accepted.  Out  of 
some  9000  clergy  all  but  200  accepted  the  new 
book.  The  tendency  of  the  book  was  away  from 
the  second  book  of  Edward  and  toward  the  first 
book.  The  Eucharistic  vestments  which  had  been 
discontinued  by  the  second  book  were  restored. 

It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  Protestant 
party  would  be  satisfied  with  the  Elizabethan  set- 
tlement; but  they  accepted  it  with  the  hope  of 
overthrowing  it  later.  The  whole  region  was, 
ecclesiastically  speaking,  a  long  struggle  of  the 
Protestant  party,  or  Puritans  as  they  came  to  be 
called,  to  alter  the  constitution  and  worship  of  the 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  *J1 

Church.  One  emphatic  proof  of  the  Cathohcity 
of  the  Church  and  of  the  Prayer  Book  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  Protestants  have  never  found 
them  satisfactory  and  have  again  and  again 
sought  to  change  the  constitution  of  the  Church 
and  the  formularies  of  its  faith  and  worship. 
From  the  death  of  Ehzabeth  to  the  Restoration 
of  Charles  II  it  was  continually  doubtful  whether 
the  Church  would  not  fall  under  the  control  of 
those  who  would  so  alter  it  as  to  destroy  its  Cath- 
olic character.  Fortunately  when  Protestantism 
gained  full  control  of  England  in  the  time  of  the 
Puritan  domination  it  chose  to  abolish  the  Church 
altogether  rather  than  "  reform  "  it,  and  therefore 
when  Puritanism  fell  the  Church  came  back  un- 
harmed. 

Still  the  circumstances  of  the  Reformation  pe- 
riod left  permanent  marks  upon  the  Church. 
While  it  emerged  from  the  turmoil  of  the  Civil 
War  with  its  constitution  and  creed  and  worship 
unharmed  and  thoroughly  Catholic,  it  also 
emerged  with  a  considerable  body  of  clergy  and 
laity  who  were  Protestant  in  belief  and  com- 
pletely out  of  sympathy  with  the  doctrine,  disci- 
pline and  worship  of  the  Church.  These  in  time 
gained  the  upper  hand  and  imposed  upon  the 
formularies  of  the  Church  the  tradition  of  a  Prot- 
estant interpretation.     Fortunately  they  did  not, 


"^2        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

in  the  day  of  their  power,  care  to  do  more  than 
that.  They  might  easily  in  the  XVIIIth  cen- 
tury have  revised  the  Prayer  Book  in  the  Protes- 
tant direction  and  made  over  the  ordinal  to  suit 
their  own  theories  of  the  ministry,  but  they  did  not 
think  it  worth  while;  and  this  is  now  becoming 
impossible  and  the  results  of  the  Anglican  Refor- 
mation are  our  inheritance  rather  than  those  of 
the  Continental  Reformation.  The  members  of 
the  Anglican  Communion  everywhere  recite  the 
creeds  which  set  forth  the  faith  once  delivered 
to  the  saints;  they  are  governed  by  the  threefold 
ministry  legitimately  descended  from  the  Apos- 
tles; they  worship  Almighty  God  by  a  liturgy 
embodying  all  the  elements  of  sacramental  wor- 
ship; they  use  all  the  sacraments  which  from  the 
beginning  have  been  in  use  in  the  Church  as  the 
channels  of  Divine  grace. 

And  today  we  rejoice  that  some  doctrines  of 
value  which  were  obscure  at  the  Reformation  are 
emerging  from  their  obscurity  to  the  light  of 
practice :  that  ceremonial  which  had  been  reduced 
to  a  minimum  is  bringing  back  to  our  services 
the  beauty  and  symbolic  expression  which  is  so 
valuable  in  its  teaching  power ;  that  the  Religious 
Life,  the  destruction  of  which  was  the  saddest 
feature  of  the  Reformation,  is  restored  in  its  full- 
ness, and  we  look  with  confidence  to  a  future  when 


THE   ENGLISH    REFORMATION  73 

the  spirit  of  the  charity  of  the  Catholic  life  shall 
finally  end  the  divisions  which  Protestant  influ- 
ence brought  to  us  and  make  us  all  of  one  mind 
in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 


,v 

THE  POWERS  OF  LOCAL  CHURCHES 

^^^HE  notion  of  a  national  church  is  one  that 
^^y  may  easily  be  so  stated  as  to  be  of  com- 
plete conflict  with  the  conception  of  the  Catholic 
Church.  One  often  reads  utterances  about  na- 
tional churches  which  seem  to  imply  that  the 
boundaries  of  nationality  are  the  necessary  limits 
of  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  and  that  the  Catholic 
Church  is  a  sum  in  arithmetic,  arrived  at  by  add- 
ing together  the  various  national  churches.  But 
all  such  phrases  as  national  churches,  or  parts  or 
branches  of  the  Church  need  to  be  used  with  the 
greatest  caution  and  with  an  understanding  of  the 
very  limited  nature  of  their  application. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  one  with  an  inner  and 
essential  unity,  w^hich  but  for  human  sin  would 
produce  an  external  unity;  but  sin  has  produced 
division,  leaving  the  Church  in  an  abnormal  state. 
As  we  see  the  Church  today  we  see  groups  of 
Christians  associated  together  and  in  opposition 
to  other  groups  of  Christians.  The  tendency  of 
each  group  has  been  to  declare  all  other  groups 

74 


THE    POWERS   OF   LOCAL   CHURCHES  75 

illegitimate  and  no  part  of  the  Body  of  Christ; 
and  if  in  any  sense  parts  of  the  Body,  very  im- 
perfect parts.  We  further  see  that  certain  of 
those  groups  have  in  the  past  tended,  and  still 
tend,  to  effect  an  organization  on  lines  corre- 
sponding to  those  of  various  nations  and  to  hold 
themselves  wholly  independent  of  other  groups  of 
Christians  however  near  them  in  other  respects, 
who  are  divided  from  them  by  the  fact  of  their 
inclusion  in  separate  political  organizations.  We 
have  to  inquire  as  to  the  meaning  of  this. 

When  our  Lord  ascended  into  heaven  he  left  all 
the  powers  of  the  Kingdom  He  had  come  to 
found  in  the  hands  of  His  apostles  to  whom  on 
Pentacost  He  sent  the  Holy  Spirit  to  guide  them 
and  to  lead  them  into  all  truth.  They  went  forth 
in  the  world  in  obedience  to  His  command  preach- 
ing the  word,  gathering  converts  into  the  Church 
through  the  gate  of  baptism  and  effecting  some 
elementary  organization  wherever  they  made  dis- 
ciples. When  we  get  any  clear  light  on  what  this 
organization  was  we  find  it  to  be  Episcopal.  The 
Church  is  everywhere  governed  by  bishops  early 
in  the  second  century,  and,  as  Tertullian  said,  if 
that  be  an  error  it  is  odd  that  all  Christians  should 
have  blundered  into  the  same  error. 

The  mere  fact  is  that  the  Church  was  from 
the   beginning   Episcopal    and   episcopally   gov- 


*](>        THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

erned.  Every  city,  almost  every  village,  had  its 
bishop.  The  belief  of  the  Church  was  that  the 
bishops  were  the  successors  of  the  Apostles  and 
that  the  promises  made  by  our  Lord  to  the  Apos- 
tles were  legitimately  interpreted  of  the  bishops; 
to  them,  as  to  the  successors  of  the  Apostles,  the 
fate  of  the  Church  was  committed,  to  them  was 
confided  the  government  of  the  Church,  and  theirs 
was  the  promise  of  our  Lord  that  He  would  be 
with  them  until  the  end  of  the  world.  That  is  to 
say,  all  those  things  were  theirs  as  the  organs 
of  the  Body  of  Christ,  through  which  the  powers 
which  had  been  committed  to  the  Body  func- 
tioned. 

In  order  that  the  Church  might  be  governed  at 
all  some  sort  of  organization  had  to  be  effected 
at  an  early  date.  A  bishop,  who  at  first  had  been 
spiritual  head  of  a  group  of  converts  in  a  special 
place,  but  who,  having  preached  there  might  leave 
his  converts  under  others'  charge  and  himself  go 
on  preaching  elsewhere,  came  to  be  locally  re- 
strained and  fixed ;  came  to  be  recognized  as  hav- 
ing rule  and  jurisdiction  over  a  certain  territory; 
that  is  to  say  the  conception  of  a  diocese  arose. 
The  Apostles  had  no  dioceses;  they  went  every- 
where preaching  the  Word,  but  their  successors 
preached  and  ruled  in  determined  territory.  As 
the    Church    grew    this    diocesan    organization 


THE    POWERS    OF   LOCAL   CHURCHES  "jy 

proved  to  be  insufficient;  many  questions  arose 
which  required  for  their  settlement  the  conferring 
of  bishops  with  one  another.  Councils  were  as- 
sembled to  discuss  and  treat  matters  of  general 
concern.  The  theory  of  these  councils,  when  it 
became  necessary  to  have  a  theory,  was  that  all 
bishops  so  gathered  were  equal,  and  that  the  pur- 
pose of  their  gathering  was  to  state  the  faith  they 
had  received  or  legislate  on  matters  of  discipline 
such  as  were  constantly  arising  in  the  growing 
complexity  of  the  life  of  the  Church.  That  these 
bishops  were  equal  no  one  doubted.  That  it  was 
their  right  by  common  action  to  settle  questions 
of  faith  and  practice  in  the  places  under  their 
jurisdiction  was  equally  undoubted.  But  such 
Councils  would  need  a  presiding  officer  and  there 
would  be  matters  which  had  to  be  attended  to 
after  the  council  had  adjourned;  the  acts  of  the 
council  would  have  to  be  made  known  to  the  ab- 
sent; in  short,  circumstances  would  compel  the 
institution  of  some  central  and  standing  authority 
which  would  unify  the  dioceses  of  contiguous 
territory  and  be  the  organ  of  their  united  action. 
It  was  through  such  necessity  that  the  Church  be- 
came organized  almost  unconsciously  into  prov- 
inces and,  finally,  the  provinces  gathered  together 
into  Patriarchates.  But  in  all  cases  the  organ  of 
action  was  the  council  of  equal  bishops  and  the 


78        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

organ  of  action  for  the  whole  Church  was  the 
General  Council. 

With  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,  the  con- 
version of  the  Germanic  nations,  the  rising  of  new 
Christian  nationalities,  a  new  set  of  questions 
arose.  The  Church  was  international,  or  perhaps 
we  might  say,  supernational.  It  is  of  the  essence 
of  Christianity  to  ignore  national  and  race  limits. 
There  is  neither  Jew  nor  Greek.  But  neverthe- 
less race  and  nationality  were  found  to  be  very 
stubborn  facts.  It  was  found  more  than  conven- 
ient, it  was  found  a  practical  necessity  to  recog- 
nize national  lines  and  make  the  organization  of 
the  Church  in  provinces  to  correspond  with  the 
national  Hmits.  It  would  not  practically  work 
to  have  an  archbishop  in  France  exercising  juris- 
diction over  bishops  in  Spain  or  Italy.  By  a 
process  of  adjustment  ecclesiastical  national  fron- 
tiers were  made  coterminous,  and  when  national 
frontiers  were  changed,  the  ecclesiastical  frontiers 
were  changed  to  correspond. 

But  there  is  nothing  sacred  about  this  arrange- 
ment; nor  does  the  group  of  dioceses  which  cor- 
responds territorially  to  England  or  France  mean 
anything  spiritually.  The  national  Church  is 
merely  the  group  of  dioceses  which  covers  terri- 
tory which  civilly  is  a  sovereign  state.  In  other 
words,  the  national  Church  is  the  organized  reli- 


THE   POWERS   OF   LOCAL    CHURCHES  79 

gion  of  the  country,  but  it  is  not,  quo  ad  national, 
an  expression  of  the  Catholic  life  of  the  Church. 
That  life  is  expressed  in  it  through  its  proper 
ecclesiastical  organ,  the  hierarchy.  The  national 
Church  has  no  claim  at  all  to  a  separate  Hfe  as 
though  it  were  a  self-sufficing  whole.  If  the  dio- 
ceses which  constitute  the  national  Church  of 
England,  which  constitute,  that  is,  England  acting 
ecclesiastically  became  separated  from  the  rest  of 
Christendom,  the  fact  is  not  to  be  justified  on 
the  ground  of  the  right  of  the  national  Church 
to  take  independent  action;  the  separation  must 
be  judged  by  the  same  rules  which  would  guide 
in  the  estimate  of  the  action,  say,  of  groups  of 
dioceses  which  got  at  odds  under  the  civil  juris- 
diction of  the  Roman  Empire.  Nationality  is  no 
justification  of  division. 

What  happened  at  the  Reformation  was  not 
that  the  self-sufficient  national  Church  of  England 
asserted  its  right  of  self-determination;  there  is 
no  such  ecclesiastical  unit  as  a  national  Church  in 
such  a  sense  as  that;  what  happened  was  that  cer- 
tain provinces  of  the  Catholic  Church,  that  is  the 
provinces  of  Canterbury  and  York,  asserted 
through  their  convocations  their  right  to  deter- 
mine their  own  affairs  within  their  own  limits. 
This  was  the  assertion  of  a  right  inherent  in  the 
Episcopate.     That  it  had  been  encroached  upon 


80       THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

during  a  considerable  time,  and  that  the  said  prov- 
inces had  yielded  to  the  encroachment,  did  not  and 
could  not  make  the  right  valid.  The  time  had 
now  come  for  the  assertion  of  it,  and  it  was  as- 
serted. If  the  Papacy,  finding  its  usurped  claims 
denied,  chose  to  divide  Christendom  and  break  off 
communion  with  the  Provinces  of  England,  that 
was  the  incurring  on  its  part  of  the  guilt  of 
schism,  the  sin  of  a  divided  Christendom. 

Inasmuch  as  the  Christian  faith  is  the  trust 
of  the  whole  Church,  it  follows  that  what  it  is 
can  only  be  settled  with  authority  by  the  whole 
Church.  The  articles  of  faith  which  were  formu- 
lated by  General  Councils  became  binding  on  the 
conscience  when  they  had  been  recognized  by  the 
whole  Church  acting  through  the  Episcopate  as 
true  statements  of  the  faith  received  from  our 
Lord  and  His  Apostles.  Definitions  of  doctrines 
by  local  Churches  may  be  true,  but  they  are  not 
of  faith.  The  formularies  of  the  local  churches 
contain  a  good  deal  of  religious  teaching  which  is 
valuable  and  which  is  adapted  to  the  spiritual  in- 
struction of  the  individual  Christian.  Loyalty 
to  the  particular  church  of  which  we  are  members 
requires  that  we  accept  and  act  upon  this  leading; 
but  our  attitude  toward  such  teaching  is  not  our 
attitude  toward  the  creeds.  The  creeds  are  be- 
lieved as  necessary  to  salvation.     The  teaching 


THE   POWERS   OF   LOCAL    CHURCHES  8l 

is  accepted  as  wholesome  and  profitable  to  growth 
in  the  spiritual  life. 

Fortunately  the  Anglican  Church  has  not  been 
given  to  creed  making.  It  has  never  formulated 
any  Articles  of  Faith.  The  Thirty-nine  Articles 
are  not,  of  course,  Articles  of  Faith,  but  just 
what  they  are  called,  Articles  of  Religion.  They 
are  the  embodying  of  theological  definitions 
drawn  up  to  serve  a  temporary  purpose  in  the 
circumstances  of  XVIth  century  England.  They 
are  an  immensely  clever  document,  drawn  up 
by  men  of  competent  theological  knowledge  and 
with  a  firm  belief  in  the  essentials  of  the  Catholic 
Faith.  Their  problem  was  so  to  state  the  theo- 
logical questions  which  were  then  in  dispute  as 
to  enable  as  many  men  as  possible  of  divers 
theological  positions  to  sign  their  statements. 
Ideally,  it  may  be  questioned  whether  this  is  a 
thing  that  ought  to  have  been  done ;  but  from  the 
point  of  view  of  practical  politics  it  was  a  thing 
that  had  to  be  done.  Read  in  the  light  of  Catho- 
lic theology  these  Articles  are  with  the  exception 
of  two  or  three  phrases  entirely  justified.  The 
pity  of  it  is  that  they  soon  came  to  be  interpreted 
by  men  utterly  ignorant  of  Catholic  theology  and 
a  Protestant  meaning  fixed  upon  them.  This  is 
most  certainly  not  their  meaning,  and  they  must 
be  interpreted  in  accord  with  the  other  theological 


82        THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Utterances  of  the  English  Church;  but  they  serve 
no  useful  purpose  to-day  and  the  American 
Church  is  wise  in  not  requiring  submission  to 
them.  To  us,  they  are  but  an  interesting  his- 
torical document. 

The  local  Church,  then,  claims  no  right  to 
formulate  Articles  of  Faith;  it  receives  the  Faith 
and  teaches  it.  But  short  of  that,  it  does  claim 
the  right  to  order  the  teaching,  worship,  and  dis- 
cipline of  its  own  members.  Its  duty  is  to  see 
to  the  teaching  of  the  Faith.  This  it  provides  for 
by  the  theological  statements  it  sets  forth  as  re- 
ceived from  the  Catholic  Church,  by  setting  forth 
the  services,  catechisms,  and  so  on.  By  provid- 
ing for  the  training  of  men  for  the  priesthood 
and  in  other  ways.  Its  members  produce  works 
of  theology,  history,  and  so  on.  A  vast  volume 
of  teaching  is  poured  forth  by  the  Church  through 
its  various  channels  and  regarded  as  a  whole  it 
is  of  a  very  mixed  character.  Of  the  ships  of 
Solomon  it  is  written  that  some  brought  back 
gold  and  silver  and  some  peacocks  and  apes.  I 
suppose  Solomon  had  not  much  difficulty  in  dis- 
tinguishing the  gold  from  the  apes.  We  perhaps 
have  more  difficulty;  but  it  is  always  possible  to 
test  the  various  utterances  that  come  to  us  under 
the  guise  of  Christian  teaching  by  the  standard  of 
the  faith  once  for  all  delivered;  that  is,  by  the 


THE    POWERS   OF   LOCAL   CHURCHES  83 

formal  and  authorized  statement  of  the  Church. 
One  has  not  much  sympathy  with  the  complaint 
that  people  cannot  tell  what  to  believe  because  of 
the  diversity  of  teaching  in  the  Church  to-day. 
There  need  be  no  such  difficulty  in  anything  that 
is  essential.  The  duty  of  every  man  is  to  know 
the  Catholic  Faith.  It  is  learned  not  by  listening 
to  sermons  but  by  studying  the  Catholic  formu- 
laries. Any  one  who  is  thoroughly  versed  in 
these  will  not  be  led  into  error ;  and  short  of  essen- 
tials there  are  many  points  of  religious  teaching 
where  diversity  of  teaching  is  allowable.  What 
is  to  be  regretted  is,  that  so  few  members  of  the 
Church  take  any  pains  to  know  their  own  religion. 
The  particular  Church  claims  the  right  to  legis- 
late for  itself,  and  enforce  its  legislation.  Here 
was  the  point  of  acute  difference  with  Rome 
which  led  to  the  separation.  Rome  claimed  the 
right  to  receive  appeals  from  the  courts  of  the 
English  Church.  This  had  been  tolerated  as  a 
matter  of  ecclesiastical  arrangement;  it  was 
claimed  as  a  matter  of  divine  right.  This  Eng- 
land denied  and  forbade  appeals.  Of  course,  by 
ecclesiastical  arrangement  appeals  may  be  carried 
anywhere.  If  the  proper  authorities  saw  fit,  ap- 
peals might  be  carried  from  the  United  States  to 
the  court  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury;  but 
such  an  arrangement  being  made  could  at  any 


54        THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

time  be  terminated.  The  carrying  of  appeals  to 
Rome  was  terminated,  and  English  cases  were 
tried  in  England,  as  to-day  American  cases  are 
tried  in  the  courts  of  the  American  Church.  The 
particular  Church  may  enact  any  canons  it  chooses 
for  its  own  government,  and  make  rules  for  the 
discipline  of  its  own  clergy  and  laity.  The  rules 
that  we  to-day  actually  live  under  are  found  in 
the  Canons  of  the  General  Convention  of  the 
Church  in  America,  and  in  the  Canons  of  the  dio- 
cese in  which  we  live.  Other  rules  affecting  our 
lives  may  be  found  in  the  Prayer  Book,  as,  for 
example,  in  the  Table  of  Fasts  and  Feasts. 
Every  member  of  the  Church  is  bound  to  know 
the  rules  that  affect  his  life,  and  to  practise  what 
is  enjoined,  and  to  avoid  what  is  prohibited  under 
penalty  of  sin. 

In  the  ordering  of  services,  the  enactment  of 
ceremonial  and  all  that  pertains  to  the  perform- 
ance of  public  worship  the  particular  church  is 
free.  The  way  in  which  this  right  has  been  ex- 
ercised in  the  past  appears  from  the  multitude 
of  Liturgies  and  Office  Books  of  one  kind  and 
another  which  have  come  down  to  us.  While  the 
essentials  of  Divine  worship  remain  the  same, 
local  circumstances  and  social  changes  from  age 
to  age  require  some  modifications  of  the  expres- 
sion of  worship.     The  Christian  Year  as  we  have 


THE    POWERS   OF   LOCAL    CHURCHES  85 

it  was  a  gradual  formation.  The  calendar  is  con- 
stantly open  for  the  reception  of  new  Feasts  and 
Fasts.  The  needs  of  time  and  place  call  for  spe- 
cial services.  The  ordering  of  these  things  be- 
long to  the  particular  church,  or,  in  many  in- 
stances to  the  particular  bishop.  The  duty  of 
providing  for  the  services  of  the  Church  belongs 
originally  to  the  bishop.  His  jus  litnrgicum  as  it 
is  called  is  the  authority  to  order  all  things  per- 
taining to  the  rendering  of  public  worship.  But 
this  inherent  right  of  the  bishop  has  been  limited 
under  circumstances  of  ecclesiastical  organization. 
As  bishops  came  to  act  together  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Church,  such  common  action  neces- 
sitated the  surrender  of  individual  powers  in  the 
interests  of  group  action.  An  ecclesiastical  prov- 
ince enacts  legislation  which  is  binding  on  all  the 
members  of  the  province.  The  Church  in  the 
United  States  of  America  on  its  organization  as 
a  province  of  the  Catholic  Church  independent  of 
the  mother  church  of  England,  adopted  constitu- 
tions and  canons  and  certain  formularies  of  wor- 
ship. The  bishops  assenting  to  these  constitu- 
tions and  canons  have  surrendered  certain  powers, 
and  have  merged  them  in  the  power  of  the  Church 
as  a  whole.  The  jus  liturgicum  is  now  exercised 
under  certain  restrictions,  and  perhaps  we  might 
say  that  the  ju^  liturgicum  of  the  individual  bishop 


86       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

has  been  surrendered  in  certain  respects  to  the 
General  Convention  of  the  Church  It  is  no 
longer  for  the  individual  bishop  to  set  forth  per- 
manent services  which  would  interfere  with,  or 
supersede  the  services  set  forth  by  common  au- 
thority ;  but  the  individual  bishop  may  set  forth  a 
service  which  shall  meet  the  special  need  of  a 
special  occasion,  or  he  can  set  forth  a  permanent 
service  which  does  not  trench  upon  the  ground 
covered  by  existing  services.  That  is,  he  cannot 
set  forth  a  new  liturgy,  but  he  can  license  special 
Collects  and  Epistles  and  Gospels  for  special  days, 
as  for  a  parish  anniversary  or  upon  some  day  of 
state  observance.  He  might  authorise  a  special 
service  for  constant  use,  as  for  the  meetings  of 
Guilds  and  Societies.  It  would  seem  that  under 
this  unsurrendered  jus  liturgicum  he  could  license 
a  special  form  of  evening  service  which  would  not 
supersede  or  interfere  with  Evening  Prayer,  as, 
for  instance,  a  service  of  a  popular  kind  where 
there  is  Mission  preaching,  or  a  service  of  the 
Benediction  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  where  that 
is  appropriate.  That  is  to  say,  the  surrender  of 
the  ecclesiastical  powers  under  the  constitution  of 
the  Church  in  America  which  insures  a  large 
measure  of  common  action  through  the  General 
Convention  is  not  of  such  a  nature  as  to  render 
the  Episcopate  a  mere  instrument  of  administra- 


THE    POWERS   OF   LOCAL    CHURCHES  8/ 

tion,  but  still  leaves  a  large  measure  of  flexibility 
to  the  administration  of  the  individual  bishop, 
and  leaves  room  for  initiative  in  the  course  of  his 
dealing  with  his  diocese. 

There  remains  a  question  of  principle  which  is 
more  difficult  to  deal  with :  that  is  the  case  of  the 
right  of  the  particular  Church  to  interfere  with 
or  discontinue  uses  and  practices  which  in  the 
course  of  centuries  have  become  part  of  the  life 
and  action  of  the  Catholic  Church.  We  can  best 
get  at  what  is  meant  by  taking  one  or  two  cases. 

The  case  of  Unction  of  the  sick  stands  by  itself. 
By  the  time  of  the  Reformation  it  had  acquired 
universal  recognition  as  a  Sacrament,  and  the  first 
Prayer  Book  of  Edward  VI  provides  for  its  ad- 
ministration. We  cannot  but  feel  that  its  omis- 
sion from  subsequent  editions  of  the  Prayer  Book 
is  a  great  blot  on  the  Churches  of  the  Anglican 
Communion.  Unction  is  a  part  of  our  CathoHc 
inheritance  from  the  past,  and  the  faithful  have 
the  right  to  receive  this  sacrament.  Neglect  of 
a  particular  church  to  provide  a  service  for  its 
administration  cannot  invalidate  that  right.  In 
such  a  case  as  this  it  would  seem  rather  more 
than  the  right ;  it  would  seem  to  be  the  duty  of  the 
individual  bishop  to  provide  for  the  proper  care 
of  the  sick  by  blessing  the  oil  of  Unction,  and 


88        THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

supplying    it    to    his    clergy    together    with    the 
licensed  office  for  its  administration. 

Another  case  falling  under  the  same  principle 
is  that  of  the  invocation  of  saints.  The  practice 
of  invocation  has  been  the  practice  of  the  whole 
Church  from  at  least  the  third  century.  It  played 
a  great  part  in  the  life  and  development  of  the 
Mediaeval  Church.  It  is  one  of  the  practices  that 
have  to  be  intelligently  dealt  with  if  Church  unity 
is  ever  to  become  a  fact.  At  the  Reformation 
the  practice  of  invocation  was  removed  from  the 
public  services  of  the  Church  and  they  have  re- 
mained without  it  ever  since.  It  may,  no  doubt, 
be  held  that  the  particular  church  has  the  right 
in  setting  forth  services  to  exclude  Invocation. 
No  one  would  contend  that  invocations  are  nec- 
essary to  the  validity  of  services ;  but  it  can  hardly 
be  held  that  the  silence  of  the  Church  on  the  prac- 
tice renders  the  practice  illegitimate.  It  is  obvi- 
ously quite  open  to  any  one  to  use  Invocation  in 
their  private  devotions.  It  would  also  seem  le- 
gitimate to  use  them  in  special  services  licensed 
by  proper  authority.  It  may  be  pointed  out  in 
this  connection  that  the  priest  having  cure  of  souls 
is  under  the  necessity  of  providing  numerous  serv- 
ices for  special  societies  and  on  special  occasions, 
without  reference  to  his  bishop,  but,  of  course, 
subject  to  his  correction. 


THE    POWERS   OF   LOCAL   CHURCHES  89 

While  we  are  discussing  the  nature  and  limits 
of  the  authority  of  the  Church,  we  may  'well 
notice  a  common  criticism  of  the  Churches  of  the 
Anglican  Communion.  We  are  said  by  our  Ro- 
man critics  to  have  no  authority.  This  is  a  lit- 
tle puzzling  at  first,  as  we  undoubtedly  have  the 
authority  of  the  universal  Church  as  expressed 
in  its  creeds  and  in  its  Councilar  action  back  of 
our  teaching  in  matters  of  Faith.  As  we  do  not 
claim  to  be  the  whole  Catholic  Church,  but  only 
a  particular  Church,  we  do  not  claim  to  formulate 
new  articles  of  faith,  or  teach  with  infallible  au- 
thority anything  that  the  Catholic  Church  has  not 
always  taught.  But  we  do  claim  to  set  forth 
the  whole  Catholic  religion  and  deal  with  such 
matters  in  belief  and  practice  as  are  not  of  uni- 
versal application,  with  all  the  authority  of  a  par- 
ticular church. 

What,  however,  seems  to  be  meant  by  our 
critics  is  not  that  we  have  no  authority,  but  that 
we  do  not  exercise  the  sort  of  discipline  that 
seems  to  them  to  be  desirable.  "  People  believe 
and  act  just  as  they  like  in  your  Church.  One 
sort  of  service  is  found  in  one  place  and  another 
in  another.  One  thing  is  taught  in  one  pulpit 
and  denied  in  another.  In  the  Episcopal  Church 
you  never  know  what  is  going  to  be  said  or  done." 
All  of   which  is   no   doubt   true   within   limits. 


90        THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

When  you  tell  a  story,  all  depends  upon  the  accent 
with  which  you  tell  it. 

It  is  not  altogether  clear  that  uniformity  in  the 
sense  here  attached  to  it  is  desirable.  One  of  the 
things  which  characterized  the  mediaeval  Church 
was  its  flexibility  and  lack  of  uniformity.  In  this 
respect  Churches  of  the  Anglican  Communion 
are  much  more  like  the  mediaeval  Church  than  is 
the  Roman.  The  uniformity  of  Latin  Christen- 
dom which  to  many  seems  so  admirable  is  the 
late  outcome  of  a  deliberate  policy  on  the  part  of 
the  Papacy  to  subject  all  things  to  Rome  and 
shape  them  in  accord  with  a  Roman  model.  Per- 
sonally, I  think  there  is  a  great  deal  to  be  said  for 
the  sort  of  freedom  in  the  rendering  of  services 
and  so  on  that  obtains  in  the  American  Church. 
If  I  had  to  choose  between  that  and  the  Roman 
authoritative  ordering  of  all  details  to  the  very 
minutest  I  should  certainly  choose  our  own  way. 

But,  it  is  said,  it  is  not  only  just  a  matter  of 
services;  it  is  a  matter  of  Christianity  itself. 
False  teaching  is  tolerated,  and  the  faithful  are 
subjected  to  heretical  priests.  But  this  state  of 
things,  so  far  as  it  exists,  is  not  cured  by  denounc- 
ing it.     What  is  the  way  out? 

There  is  the  Roman  way  of  excommunicating 
all  teachers  who  are  estimated  to  be  erroneous. 
There  is  something  to  be  said  for  this  way;  it 


THE    POWERS   OF   LOCAL   CHURCHES  QI 

appeals  to  a  certain  kind  of  temperament,  the 
sort  that  believes  you  have  answered  a  question 
when  you  have  burned  the  questioner.  But  there 
is  another  point  of  view,  and  that  is  that  the  busi- 
ness of  the  Catholic  religion  is  not  to  burn  ques- 
tioners, but  meet  and  answer  all  questions.  That 
is  the  only  way  that  questions  are  ever  dealt  with 
satisfactorily.  There  have  been  many  instances 
of  the  impatient  method  of  dealing  with  questions 
or  even  assertions.  We  do  not  look  back  with 
much  joy  at  records  of  the  criticism  of  the  doc- 
trine of  evolution  or  of  the  results  of  Biblical  re- 
search. I  do  not  think  that  the  Church  to-day  is 
very  proud  of  the  utterances  of  the  bishops  who 
drove  Newman  out  of  the  Church  and  made 
Pusey's  life  so  difficult.  The  next  generation  will 
not  be  at  all  proud  of  those  who  now  denounce 
higher  criticism  of  the  Scriptures  or  devotions  to 
our  Lord  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament.  The  policy 
of  toleration  and  discussion  is  a  slow  one  and  re- 
quires patience  and  self-restraint.  It  is  easier 
and  quicker  to  throw  stones  and  build  pyres. 
But  such  a  policy  of  suppression  of  what  we  do 
not  believe  always  has  been,  and  always  will  be 
futile. 

But  the  danger  to  souls?  Well,  God  has  put 
souls  into  a  dangerous  world.  I  suppose  He 
would  not  if  He  thought  danger  so  bad  for  them. 


92        THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

And  the  great  danger  for  souls  arises  from  their 
own  carelessness  and  neglect  resulting  in  igno- 
rance. Those  are  in  great  danger  who  do  not 
take  pains  to  know  the  truth,  but  if  we  know  the 
truth,  the  truth  will  make  us  free, —  free  from 
the  danger  of  false  teachers  among  other  things. 


VI 

DOGMATIC  RELIGION 

^^:;^HERE  are  two  words  which  invariably  stir 
V^  the  wrath  of  the  "  Hberal  thinker,"  the 
words  dogma  and  asceticism.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  the  mark  of  a  CathoHc  thinker  to  be 
able  to  live  comfortably  with  these  words  and 
what  they  stand  for.  The  offence  of  dogma  is 
that  it  imposes  limits  on  speculation,  that  it  as- 
serts that  certain  truths  are  definitely  ascertained. 
The  claim  of  liberalism  is  that  there  are  no  fixed 
truths  and  that  all  statements  of  fact  are  eternally 
open  to  question  and  that  certainty  in  any  matter 
is  impossible.  This  conception  of  truth  reduces 
the  Church,  in  the  words  of  the  Russian  writer, 
Khomiakoff,  to  ''  a  society  of  good  men,  dififer- 
ing  in  all  their  opinions,  but  earnestly  seeking  for 
truth,  with  a  total  certainty  that  it  has  not  yet 
been  found,  and  with  no  hope  at  all  ever  to  find 
it." 

From  this  point  of  view  the  Christian  Religion 
is  a  fluid  system  of  opinions  subject  to  constant 
change.     If  that  were  true  we  may  be  pretty 

93 


94        THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

certain  that  the  Christian  ReHgion  would  have 
long  ago  ceased  to  exist.  This  is  not  a  guess ;  the 
Christian  centuries  have  seen  the  rise  and  fall  of 
innumerable  systems  of  thought  —  philosophies, 
religions,  heresies  —  the  speculations  of  thinkers 
great  and  small.  They  rose  and  flourished  and 
declined,  but  the  Christian  Religion  went  on. 
Many  of  them,  in  the  hours  of  their  triumph, 
proclaimed  that  Christianity  was  a  thing  of  the 
past,  a  superstition  which  was  fast  losing  its  hold 
on  the  human  mind.  Most  of  these  boasters  have 
been  long  buried  and  their  names  forgotten;  but 
Christianity  goes  on.  There  are  those  to-day 
who  publish  it  abroad  that  they  are  watching  by 
the  death-bed  of  Christianity,  but  Christianity 
will  see  the  grass  growing  on  their  graves  as 
green  as  that  upon  the  graves  of  their  prede- 
cessors. 

The  Christian  Religion  survives  and  will  sur- 
vive precisely  because  it  is  not  a  system  of  specula- 
tive thought,  but  because  it  has  fixed  truth  to  offer. 
It  is  eternal  because  it  is  dogmatic.  It  is,  of 
course,  the  only  religion  which  can  be  dogmatic, 
because  it  alone  is  possessed  of  certainty.  Nat- 
ural religions  are  religions  which  man  thinks  out 
for  himself.  He  considers  the  phenomena  of 
nature  and  life  and  draws  conclusions  which  he 
generalizes  in  a  religious  system.     Such  religious 


DOGMATIC    RELIGION  95 

systems  are  subject  to  constant  change  because 
the  more  man  thinks  about  nature  and  Hfe,  the 
more  he  sees  (or  thinks  he  sees)  into  their  mean- 
ing. His  conclusions  of  to-day  will  be  displaced 
by  the  new  conclusions  of  to-morrow.  But  su- 
pernatural religion  is  God's  communication  of 
knowledge  about  Himself  and  the  universe  He 
has  made,  and  of  His  abiding  relation  to  it. 

The  opposition  of  the  modern  man  to  reHgious 
dogma  is  mysterious.  In  other  departments  of 
knowledge  a  dogmatic  system  is  sought.  Dogma, 
—  I  learned  when  a  boy  from  somebody's  book, 
and  the  definition  has  been  unceasingly  useful  to 
me, —  dogma  "  is  positive  truth  positively  ex- 
pressed." I  do  not  see  that  anyone  can  object 
to  that  unless  they  feel  that  they  have  no  truth  to 
express. 

I  know  it  will  be  said  that  "  it  is  not  the  truth 
we  object  to,  but  the  hard  and  fast,  the  stereo- 
typed, expression  of  it.  After  all,  the  Christian 
Religion  goes  back  to  the  New  Testament,  and 
there  are  no  dogmas  there."  No  doubt:  the 
Christian  Religion  goes  back  even  behind  the  New 
Testament  to  a  body  of  knowledge  and  experience 
of  which  the  New  Testament  is  a  partial  expres- 
sion. It  is  true  that  dogmatic  statements  do  not 
characterize  the  New  Testament;  yet  if  dogmas 
are   positive    truths    positively    expressed    there 


96       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

would  seem  to  be  a  good  many  of  them  there. 
There  are  certain  *'  dogmas "  concerning  God, 
for  instance:  God  is  Light,  God  is  spirit,  God 
is  love.  These  are  quite  positive  statements. 
There  are  plenty  of  others.  ''  Except  a  man  be 
born  again  he  cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God." 
"  Except  ye  be  converted  and  become  as  little 
children,  ye  shall  not  enter  into  the  kingdom  of 
heaven."  "  This  is  my  Body."  "  This  is  my 
Blood." 

"  But  these  statements  are  not  developed  into 
a  creed.  It  is  one  thing  to  say  that  God  is  love, 
and  another  to  say  that  He  is  Trinity  in  Unity 
and  Unity  in  Trinity.  Why  not  be  content  with 
the  first  saying,  God  is  Love?  We  can  all  agree 
on  that."  I  am  afraid  we  could  not.  I  am 
afraid  that  we  could  all  agree  on  it  only  on  condi- 
tion that  we  should  none  of  us  think  about  it. 
It  is  not  at  all  true  that  all  men  are  agreed  as  to 
the  meaning  of  love;  and  we  can  only  have  the 
appearance  of  agreeing  on  condition  that  we 
stop  thinking.  Men  who  think,  disagree;  we 
may  like  it  or  not,  but  that  is  the  fact.  And  we 
can  hardly  suppose  that  the  opponents  of  dogma 
are  the  opponents  of  thought:  on  the  contrary, 
they  are  the  "  thinkers  "  par  excellence.  The  dif- 
ference is  that  the  undogmatic  thinker  does  not 
regard  his  conclusions  as  certain;  that  is,  he  does 


DOGMATIC    RELIGION  97 

not  SO  hold  them  in  theory ;  in  practice,  there  have 
been  no  greater  dogmatists  than  these  same  un- 
dogmatic  thinkers. 

We  may  state  the  matter  thus.  The  undog- 
matic  thinker  starts  from  premises  that  are  hypo- 
thetical and  reaches  conclusions  that  are  disputa- 
ble. The  dogmatic  thinker  starts  from  premises 
which  he  regards  as  fixed,  and  will  submit  his 
conclusions  to  the  criticism  of  other  truths  which 
are  equally  fixed.  He  knows  that  his  reasoning 
is  erroneous  if  his  conclusions  bring  him  into  op- 
position with  the  ascertained  body  of  Christian 
dogma.  The  liberal,  on  the  basis  of  his  personal 
conclusions,  has  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  the 
whole  Christian  past  has  been  mistaken  if  it  dif- 
fers from  him;  the  Christian  dogmatist  has  no 
difficulty  in  saying  that  he  is  mistaken  if  his  con- 
clusions conflict  with  the  Christian  past. 

The  Creed,  no  doubt,  is  not  explicitly  in  the 
Scriptures ;  it  is  not  even  derived  from  the  Scrip- 
tures. It  is  the  result  of  an  attempt  of  the  Chris- 
tian consciousness  to  formulate  its  experience  of 
our  Lord.  As  such  it  can  be  checked  up  and 
verified  by  means  of  that  other  record  of  experi- 
ence of  our  Lord  which  we  call  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Ceaselessly  thinking  upon  this  experience 
and  all  that  is  implied  in  it,  and  gathering  deeper 
experience  as  time  went  on,  the  Church  was  able 


98       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE   PRAYER   BOOK 

finally  to  settle  upon  the  various  clauses  of  the 
Creed  as  being  a  not  inadequate  expression  of  the 
truth  it  had  learned.  It  did  this,  I  say,  by  experi- 
encing and  then  thinking  out  the  meaning  of  the 
experience.  People  talk  as  though  some  com- 
mittee of  bishops  at  a  council  had  the  matter  of 
a  Creed  referred  to  them,  and  brought  in  a  report 
which  was  adopted,  and  the  result  was  the  Apos- 
tles' Creed!  That  is,  of  course,  nonsense.  The 
Creed  was  gradually  produced,  and  it  was 
adopted,  not  because  a  committee  recommended 
it  but  because  the  Church  recognized  in  it  the 
ideal  expression  of  its  experience.  It  has  stood 
in  the  life  of  the  Church,  not  as  an  explanation 
of  the  inexplicable,  but  as  a  guide  and  directory 
of  Christian  Experience. 

In  this  process  of  building  up  a  body  of  truth 
the  Church  was  but  doing  what  could  not  be 
avoided  —  it  was  thinking  and  registering  the  re- 
sults of  its  thought.  This  is  what  is  being  done 
in  any  department  of  human  knowledge.  We  are 
never  tired  of  boasting  of  the  progress  of  knowl- 
edge, of  science,  made  during  the  last  hundred 
years.  What  do  we  mean  by  progress  in  this 
case?  We  mean  thinking  and  experiencing  and 
recording  the  results  in  generalizations  which  we 
call  principles  and  laws;  we  mean  the  collection 
of  vast  masses  of  facts  and  the  reduction  of  them 


DOGMATIC    RELIGION  99 

to  formulae  which  can  be  easily  handled.  In 
other  words,  the  scientist  of  to-day  aims  to  ob- 
serve, and  on  the  basis  of  his  observation  to  con- 
struct, to  formulate,  a  creed.  The  formulation 
of  this  creed  is  the  measure  of  progress.  The 
aim  of  science  is  not  to  keep  all  questions  open 
but  to  close  as  many  as  possible.  It  aims  to  nar- 
row the  field  of  uncertainty.  The  more  dogmas 
it  can  accumulate  the  better.  There  is,  of  course, 
this  limitation ;  that  no  results  of  scientific  investi- 
gation are  infallible  —  the  results  may  be  consid- 
ered at  any  time  in  the  light  of  farther  knowledge. 
This  must  be  so  because  the  data  of  science  are 
of  human  discovery.  Our  claim  is  that  this 
limitation  does  not  obtain  in  matters  of  faith, 
because  they  are  not  of  human  discovery,  but  of 
divine  revelation.  They  are  facts  about  God  and 
His  relation  to  the  universe  which  man  can  only 
know  by  revelation.  We  either  do  not  know 
them  at  all  or  we  know  them  infallibly.  Scien- 
tific conclusions  can  be  revised,  as  the  whole 
atomic  theory  has  lately  been  revised.  The  doc- 
trine of  the  Trinity  cannot  be  revised  because  we 
know  only  what  has  been  revealed. 

One  of  the  objections  to  dogma  takes  this  form. 
The  dogrnas  of  the  Christian  faith,  it  is  said, 
are  unintelligible,  and  we  cannot,  as  rational  be- 
ings, believe  what  we  do  not  understand.     How 


lOO       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

often  one  hears  that:  "  I  cannot  believe  what  I 
cannot  understand."  This  is,  however,  mere 
confusion  of  thought.  In  reahty,  there  is  noth- 
ing in  the  world  that  we  do  understand  if  we 
only  push  our  investigation  far  enough.  The 
formulae  of  science  which  are  so  often  taken 
to  be  explanatory  are  in  fact  only  descriptive. 
They  are  descriptive  of  the  way  in  which  things 
happen,  not  explanatory  of  how  they  happen. 
But  the  man  in  the  street  is  very  apt  to  take  a 
definition  for  an  explanation,  and  if  you  state 
the  law  of  gravitation  to  him,  imagines  that  he 
understands  why  one  body  attracts  another.  We 
understand  very  little,  if  by  understanding  we 
mean  having  an  exhaustive  account  of  any  phe- 
nomenon. In  that  sense  we  neither  understand 
gravitation  nor  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  But 
without  understanding  why  a.  thing  is  we  can  per- 
fectly well  understand  that  it  is.  No  one  denies 
the  fact  of  gravitation;  the  fact  is  demonstrable. 
Nor  is  there  any  ground  for  denying  any  fact  of 
revelation  without  examining  the  evidence  for 
it.  It  stands  on  its  evidence.  I  can  perfectly 
well  believe  that  God  is  Trinity  in  Unity  though 
I  am  not  able  to  explain  that  truth.  To  know  a 
fact  and  to  know  the  mode  of  a  fact  are  two 
things;  and  that  we  do  not  know  the  latter  is  no 
ground  for  denying  the  former. 


DOGMATIC    RELIGION  10 1 

The  religion  of  the  Catholic  Church  has  always 
been  dogmatic;  that  is,  the  Church  has  assumed 
to  be  the  guardian  and  teacher  of  truths  that  it 
did  not  discover,  but  which  it  has  received. 
These  truths  have  come  to  it  by  revelation  and 
the  record  of  the  revelation  is  contained  in  the 
Scriptures  of  which  the  Church  is  the  "  witness 
and  keeper."  And  inasmuch  as  the  Scriptures 
were  produced  through  members  of  the  Church 
for  the  use  of  members  of  the  Church,  and  were 
committed  to  the  keeping  of  the  Church,  the 
Church  has  always  claimed  and  exercised  the 
right  to  interpret  the  Scriptures.  It  "  has  au- 
thority in  matters  of  faith."  This  means  that  it 
has  authority  to  teach  what  the  Christian  Reli- 
gion is,  and  that  its  authority  is  final. 

The  Church  has  exercised  this  right  in  the  ac- 
ceptance and  promulgation  of  the  decrees  of  the 
general  councils,  and  in  the  drawing  up  and  pub- 
lishing of  the  creeds,  and  in  the  setting  forth  of 
liturgies.  It  imposes  these  dogmatic  statements 
as  conditions  of  membership.  It  requires  assent 
to  the  creed  as  a  preliminary  to  baptism;  it  re- 
quires the  renewal  of  the  baptismal  vow  before 
proceeding  to  confirmation.  It  requires  a  con- 
tinually renewed  confession  of  the  faith  by  its 
insertion  of  the  creeds  in  the  daily  offices  and  in 
the  Mass.     In  the  office  for  the  visitation  of  the 


I02       THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

sick  the  minister  is  directed  to  rehearse  the  Arti- 
cles of  the  Faith,  and  the  sick  person  is  directed 
to  answer,  ''  All  this  I  steadfastly  believe."  Can- 
didates for  any  grade  of  the  sacred  ministry  are 
not  only  required  to  accept  the  Scriptures  as  con- 
taining the  Christian  Revelation  and  to  pledge 
themselves  (in  the  case  of  those  advanced  to  the 
priesthood  and  episcopate)  *'  to  banish  and  drive 
away  from  the  Church  all  erroneous  and  strange 
doctrine  contrary  to  God's  word,"  but  they  are 
required  to  recite  the  Creed  in  the  course  of  the 
service.  The  priest  is  not  to  teach  what  appeals 
to  him  as  probably  true,  or  what  he  judges  will 
be  acceptable  to  the  Modern  Mind,  but  he  has  the 
explicit  commission  "  always  so  to  minister  the 
doctrine  and  sacraments,  and  the  discipline  of 
Christ,  as  the  Lord  has  commanded,  and  as  this 
Church  hath  received  the  same."  In  fact,  the 
Church  requires  a  profession  of  the  faith  as  a 
preliminary  to  all  sacraments  with  the  exception 
of  matrimony. 

I  think  that  there  would  be  much  less  talk 
about  "  unintelligible  and  barren  dogmas "  if 
those  who  thus  speak  would  set  themselves  to 
learn  what  dogmas  of  the  faith  are  for.  They 
are  not  intellectual  puzzles ;  they  are  not  traps  to 
catch  unwary  speculators;  they  are  not  explana- 
tions  of    the   inexplicable;   they   are   guides   to 


DOGMATIC   RELIGION  IO3 

thought  and  action.  It  is  perfectly  easy  to  learn 
to  use  dogmas  and  by  so  doing  to  find  their  rich 
significance.  When  the  dogma  of  the  Trinity 
has  led  us  to  fruitful  prayer  to  each  of  the 
three  divine  Persons,  when  the  dogma  of  the  In- 
carnation has  led  us  to  the  realisation  of  our 
privileges  as  the  children  of  God,  v^hen  the  dogma 
of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  has  led  us  to  the  joy 
of  complete  absolution,  we  shall  cease  to  regard 
dogmas  as  offences,  and  seek  to  find  through  their 
guidance  increasing  fulness  of  spiritual  experi- 
ence. 


VII 

PRINCIPLES  OF  INTERPRETATION 

^^:;^HE  Book  of  Common  Prayer  which  is  put 
^^^  into  our  hands  by  the  Church  is  at  once  the 
law  of  our  worship  and  of  our  behef.  When  the 
question  is  raised,  What  does  the  American 
Church  teach?  the  obvious  source  to  which  we 
turn  for  an  answer  is  the  Prayer  Book.  And  yet 
it  is  true  that  we  find  many  men  using  the  Prayer 
Book  and  professing  loyalty  to  it,  who  yet  differ 
radically  in  their  teaching.  How  are  we  to  de- 
termine who  is  right? 

In  other  words,  what  are  the  principles  of  inter- 
pretation which  are  to  be  applied  in  determining 
the  meaning  of  the  Prayer  Book?  No  document 
whatever  is  self -interpretative.  A  law  may  be 
drawn  up  with  the  greatest  possible  care,  and  yet 
when  it  is  put  in  operation  there  will  arise  differ- 
ences of  interpretation,  and  we  only  know  what 
the  meaning  of  the  law  is  after  it  has  been  passed 
upon  by  the  highest  court.     Similarly,  there  must 

be  some  principle  by  the  application  of  which  we 

104 


PRINCIPLES   OF    INTERPRETATION  IO5 

may  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  formularies  of 
our  worship  and  faith. 

We  cannot  leave  them  to  be  interpreted  by  the 
individual  private  judgment.     That  is  the  blun- 
der that  the  Protestant  reformers  made  at  the 
time  of  the  Reformation  and  which  their  descend- 
ants have  perpetuated.     The  Holy  Scriptures  in- 
terpreted  by   the   individual   land   us   in  chaos. 
Protestant  Christendom  is  the  sufficient  record  of 
the  failure  of  that  theory.     Even  those  holding 
the  theory  found  themselves  unable  to  live  up  to 
it.     Luther  and  Calvin  and  Knox  were  as  intent 
on  impressing  their  interpretation  of  the  Scrip- 
tures on  others  as  were  the  popes,  whereas,  on 
their  announced  principles,  they  ought  to  have  had 
no  quarrel  with  the  popes  or  with  each  other,  but 
simply  to  have  said,  "  Your  interpretation  holds 
for  you,  of  course,  as  mine  holds  for  me."     Pri- 
vate judgment  ought  not  to  mean  Luther's  judg- 
ment or  Calvin's  judgment,  but  any  man's  judg- 
ment.    Why  should  Luther  have  been  so  intent 
on  making  other  men  accept  his  doctrine  of  justi- 
fication by  faith  only?     A  doctrine  arrived  at  by 
private  judgment  can  hardly  be  taught  with  any 
force.     It  remains  a  private  opinion. 

That  is  equally  true  of  the  Anglican  formula- 
ries. We  must  have  external  standards  to  which 
to  refer  them.     What  standards  are  there? 


I06       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

It  has  been  proposed  to  test  them  by  compari- 
son with  the  writings  of  AngHcan  theologians 
contemporary  with  their  formulation.  Learned 
gentlemen  have  spent  much  time  in  collecting  pas- 
sages from  the  writings  of  the  reformers  of  the 
Tudor  period.  They  say,  "  This  is  what  Cran- 
mer  and  Ridley  believed  about  the  ministry  and 
the  sacraments,  and  this,  therefore,  is  what  the 
formal  documents  of  the  Church  must  be  held  to 
mean.  It  seems  to  me  that  a  good  deal  of  time 
has  been  wasted  by  the  partisans  of  different 
theological  schools  in  constructing  catenae  of  pas- 
sages from  Tudor  and  Stuart  divines  to  rule  the 
interpretation  of  the  Prayer  Book.  Such  catenae 
have  their  value;  but  it  is  the  value  of  illustrating 
the  vogue  of  a  given  interpretation  rather  than 
that  of  determining  the  interpretation  itself. 
Passages  proving  that  Tudor  bishops  did  not  be- 
lieve in  their  orders  or  in  the  real  Presence  are 
of  use  in  determining  the  orthodoxy  of  the  indi- 
vidual bishop,  if  any  one  at  this  late  date  is  inter- 
ested in  that,  but  they  prove  nothing  at  all  as  to 
the  meaning  of  the  Prayer  Book.  And  that  for 
this  reason :  that  the  Church  of  England  when  at 
the  Reformation  it  put  forth  its  revised  Prayer 
Book,  and  other  doctrinal  statements,  did  not  ap- 
peal to  the  opinions  of  contemporary  bishops  and 
theologians,  but  did  appeal  to  the  Holy  Scriptures 


PRINCIPLES   OF   INTERPRETATION  IO7 

interpreted  by  the  tradition  of  the  Church ;  that  is, 
by  the  doctrinal  decrees  of  the  conciHar  period 
and  the  writings  of  the  Fathers  of  the  undivided 
Church.  This  appeal  was  made  explicitly  over 
and  over  again  in  the  course  of  the  Reformation 
legislation.  It  is  made  in  the  matter  of  orders 
in  the  Preface  to  the  Ordinal.  We  there  read: 
"  It  is  evident  unto  all  men,  diligently  reading 
Holy  Scripture  and  ancient  Authors,  that  from 
the  Apostles'  time  there  have  been  these  Orders  of 
Ministers  in  Christ's  Church, —  Bishops,  Priests 
and  Deacons."  The  principle  here  stated  may  be 
generalized  to  apply  to  all  doctrinal  statements. 
Our  reply  then  to  those  who  collect  passages  from 
the  Reformers  as  the  standard  of  the  interpreta- 
tion of  the  Prayer  Book  is  that  we  do  not  in  the 
least  care  what  they  teach  so  far  as  that  purpose 
is  concerned.  The  Church  to  which  we  owe  alle- 
giance does  not  appeal  to  them.  We  regret  that 
the  demonstration  shows  them  to  have  been  in 
error,  but  we  have  no  intention  of  following  them 
therein. 

The  appeal  of  the  Anglican  Reformation,  then, 
is,  in  the  first  place,  to  the  Bible.  A  doctrine  to 
be  of  faith  must  be  a  part  of  the  revelation  con- 
tained in  Holy  Scripture.  If  it  is  not,  it  may  be 
as  true  as  you  like,  but  it  cannot  be  binding  on 
the  conscience  with  the  obligation  of  faith.     In 


I08       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

most  cases  this  test  of  explicit  agreement  with 
Scripture  is  sufficient.  BeHef  in  God,  in  our 
Lord's  Incarnation  and  death  on  our  behalf  is 
indisputably  to  be  found  there.  But  inevitably 
the  reference  of  many  statements  of  our  docu- 
ments to  biblical  sources  will  be  challenged.  In 
that  case  the  appeal  is  to  the  interpretative  tradi- 
tion of  the  Church.  What  was  actually  taught 
about  the  matter  in  dispute  during  the  first  cen- 
turies of  the  Church's  life,  the  centuries  during 
which  the  Church  was  thinking  out  the  meaning 
of  the  revelation  committed  to  it?  It  may  seem 
to  most  of  us  sufficiently  obvious  that  the  state- 
ment of  the  Baptismal  Office  about  the  newly 
baptized  child,  that  this  child  is  regenerate,  is  a 
truly  biblical  doctrine;  and  yet  it  is  disputed  and 
our  appeal  must  be  to  the  constant  teaching  of 
the  Church  from  the  beginning  for  the  accuracy 
of  our  report  as  to  the  biblical  doctrine. 

While  it  is  true  that  we  are  entitled  to  disre- 
gard the  utterances  of  contemporary  writers  as 
having  any  more  than  an  illustrative  value,  there 
is  a  class  of  contemporary  documents  which  are 
of  interpretative  value  in  our  attempt  to  under- 
stand the  religion  of  the  Prayer  Book.  This  class 
of  documents  is  composed  of  the  formal  utter- 
ances of  the  Church  through  its  accredited  chan- 
nels.    There  is  a  whole  series  of  documents  be- 


PRINCIPLES   OF   INTERPRETATION  ICQ 

ginning  from  the  Reformation  Parliament  and 
Convocation  of  1529  and  going  down  through  the 
whole  Reformation  period  which  are  very  valu- 
able as  indicating  the  mind  of  the  Church  on  mat- 
ters to-day  in  dispute.  From  them  the  mind  of 
the  Anglican  Church  on  such  matters  as  the  papal 
jurisdiction,  the  invocation  of  saints,  the  real 
Presence  can  be  gathered. 

Our  method  of  interpretation  then  would  be 
to  take  the  statements  of  the  Pra3^er  Book  in  their 
simple  grammatical  meaning.  Take  as  an  illus- 
tration, its  teaching  about  the  Eucharist.  The 
Catechism  would  seem  to  be  sufficiently  plain.  It 
declares  that  there  are  two  parts  of  the  Lord's 
Supper :  an  outward  part  or  sign,  which  is  bread 
and  wine;  and  an  inward  part  or  thing  signified 
which  is  "  the  Body  and  Blood  of  Christ  which 
are  spiritually  taken  and  received  by  the  faithful 
in  the  Lord's  supper."  The  statement  is  pre- 
pared for  children,  and  one  would  think  that  any 
fairly  intelligent  child  would  understand  its  mean- 
ing. But  what  a  child  would  easily  understand, 
an  adult,  sophisticated  by  theory,  may  not  under- 
stand. He  comes  to  a  definition,  not  to  get  a 
meaning  out  of  it,  but  to  impose  one  upon  it.  In 
case  therefore  that  a  question  is  raised  as  to  the 
meaning  of  the  Catechism,  we  have  to  interpret 
it.     We  can  do  this,  in  the  first  place,  by  refer- 


no       THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

ence  to  other  parts  of  the  Prayer  Book,  notably 
to  the  Communion  Office  itself.  When  the  priest 
distributes  the  elements  to  the  faithful  he  declares 
that  what  he  is  giving  is  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ.  If  the  interpretation  drawn  from  the 
Prayer  Book  is  challenged  the  recourse  is  to  the 
official  documents  of  the  Church.  It  is  not  at  all 
to  the  point  to  collect  passages  from  the  writings 
of  the  Reformers.  Contemporary  opinion  in  this 
particular  instance  was  in  a  state  of  chaos;  but 
reference  must  be  made  to  the  formal  utterances 
of  the  Church.  The  XXXIX  Articles  are  not 
of  faith,  but  they  have  a  certain  weight  which 
does  not  attach  to  the  opinions  of  any  individual 
reformer.  The  XXVIIIth  Art.  declares  that ''  the 
Body  of  Christ  is  given,  taken,  and  eaten,  in  the 
Supper,  only  after  an  heavenly  and  spiritual  man- 
ner." The  documents  hold  all  together  and  have 
a  perfectly  plain  and  consistent  meaning. 

They  do  not,  however,  as  we  know,  command 
universal  assent;  and  with  those  who  do  not  as- 
sent it  would  be  purposeless  to  continue  the  argu- 
ment inasmuch  as  such  will  have  departed  utterly 
from  the  principle  of  an  authoritative  interpreta- 
tion being  possible,  in  favor  of  the  principle  of 
private  judgment;  and  when  a  man  asserts  that 
he  is  the  final  court  of  appeal  as  to  the  meaning 
of  a  doctrine  all  use  of  argument  falls.     But  for 


PRINCIPLES   OF    INTERPRETATION  III 

those  who  want  an  intelligible  principle  of  inter- 
pretation we  may  carry  the  appeal  from  the  offi- 
cial documents  of  the  English  Church  to  the  final 
court  which  is  the  Holy  Scripture  interpreted  by 
the  mind  of  the  universal  Church.  The  appeal 
is  not  to  Holy  Scripture  simply,  for  that  would 
land  us  again  in  the  jungle  of  private  judgment, 
n  Scripture  means  what  /  think  it  means  reli- 
gion is  reduced  to  mere  individualism  and  tends 
to  vanish  altogether.  But  Scripture  actually 
means  (on  the  Catholic  hypothesis)  what  the 
Church  understands  it  to  mean;  and  in  this  spe- 
cial case  of  the  Eucharist  we  have  the  consent  of 
the  Church  in  its  formal  action  in  councils  and 
in  the  liturgies  it  has  authorized  and  the  constant 
interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  and  authorized 
documents  by  the  great  Catholic  Fathers,  to 
whose  interpretation  of  the  Christian  Religion  the 
English  Church  plainly  appeals.  It  may  seem  at 
first  sight  that  the  writings  of  the  Fathers  are  of 
as  little  authority  as  the  writings  of  the  Reform- 
ers as  a  source  of  interpretation;  but  this  is  not 
so.  The  writings  of  the  great  Fathers  of  the 
East  and  West  have  always  been  held  to  embody 
the  Catholic  interpretation  of  the  Church's  formal 
documents  and  while,  of  course,  no  formal  au- 
thority attaches  to  any  passage  from  S.  Chrysos- 
tom  or  S.  Augustine,  the  mind  of  the  Church  as 


112       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

to  their  orthodoxy  is  sufficiently  plain  and  the 
explicit  appeal  of  the  Anglican  Church  is  to  the 
Holy  Scriptures  as  interpreted  by  them.  In  the 
case  of  the  Eucharist  this  interpretative  tradition 
in  the  sense  of  the  real  Presence  is  continuous. 

Here,  then,  we  have  an  intelligible  rule  of  in- 
terpretation which  is  sufficient  to  free  us  from  the 
vagaries  of  private  judgment.  If  any  one,  priest 
or  bishop,  local  or  national  council,  teaches  any- 
thing as  of  faith  it  is  easy  to  bring  the  teaching 
to  book.  We  are  not  left  to  the  tender  mercies 
of  the  individual  interpretation  of  religion,  as  it 
is  often  said  of  us  by  some  of  our  critics. 

But  one  perceives  the  objection  that  while  this 
method  of  arriving  at  truth  is  no  doubt  the  au- 
thorized one,  yet  it  has  this  particular  difficulty 
that  the  plain  man  cannot  apply  it.  It  is  a  method 
for  scholars,  but  it  is  not  only  scholars  who  need 
to  know  the  Catholic  faith. 

To  which  the  answer  is  that  the  plain  man  does 
not  have  to  go  beyond  the  simple  grammatical 
meaning  of  his  Prayer  Book.  All  that  he  needs 
for  the  solution  of  his  difficulties  is  there;  so  long 
as  he  is  content  with  it  he  need  not  trouble  about 
vexed  questions.  If  those  w^ho  are  set  as  his 
teachers  deny  the  plain  meaning  of  his  Prayer 
Book,  he  can  still  adhere  to  it  rather  than  to  them, 
and  go  his  way.     Of  doctrines  which  to-day  are 


PRINCIPLES   OF   INTERPRETATION  113 

called  in  question  the  chief  are  the  Virgin  birth 
of  our  Lord,   His  bodily  resurrection  from  the 
dead  on  the  third  day,  His  real  Presence  in  the 
Holy  Communion,  the  necessity  of  Episcopal  or- 
dination to  a  valid  ministry.     These  doctrines  are 
no  doubt  denied  from  the  pulpits  of  the  Church 
and  in  the  writings  of  certain  of  her  ministers. 
But  it  must  be  perfectly  clear  to  the  plain  man 
that  the  grammatical  meaning  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  asserts  all  these  things.     If  he 
chooses  to  go  beyond  this  position  and   follow 
theological  controversy  in  these  high  matters,  he 
ceases  to  be  a  plain  man  and  puts  himself  in  the 
place  of  the  scholar  with  all  the  scholar's  responsi- 
bilities.    He  will  have  the  scholar's  problems  to 
deal  with.     The  questions  raised  and  the  methods 
suggested  for  their  solution  have  a  certain  diffi- 
culty, it  is  true,  but  the  difficulty  is  not  one  that  is 
peculiar   to   theological   discussions.     The   same 
sort  of  difficulty  inheres  in  the  process  of  arriv- 
ing at  conclusions  in  any  department  of  human 
knowledge.     Those  who  want  conclusions  of  this 
sort  must  be  content  to  work  for  them.     The  an- 
cients had  a  way  of  consulting  an  oracle  when 
they  wanted  guidance  in  any  department  of  life, 
but  the  answers  of  the  oracles  which  have  come 
down  to  us  do  not  suggest  that  the  results  of  the 
method  were  altogether  satisfactory.     There  is 


114       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

one  part  of  the  Christian  Church  which  still  ad- 
heres to  the  oracular  method,  but  again,  the  re- 
sults are  not  convincing.  It  remains  for  the  plain 
man  to  take  the  teaching  the  Church  gives  him 
in  its  obvious  sense  or  to  resort  to  the  methods  of 
the  scholars.  Whether  you  v^ant  to  know  the 
meaning  of  a  passage  of  S.  Paul  or  the  meaning 
of  a  passage  of  Shakespeare ;  whether  you  want  to 
know  the  constant  teaching  of  the  Church  on  the 
real  Presence  or  the  varying  teaching  of  science 
on  the  constitution  of  the  material  universe,  you 
must  work.  The  Church  offers  you  the  method 
of  simple  acceptance  or  the  method  of  patient 
research;  each  method  has  its  advantages  —  and 
its  penalties. 


VIII 

THE  INCARNATION  AS  THE  MEANS  OF 
UNION  WITH  GOD 

Vr^HAT  think  ye  of  Christ?"  is  a  question 
Vjy  that  must  be  faced  by  every  reHgious 
teacher  to-day.  To  this  question  two  radically 
different  answers  are  being  given  by  teachers  who 
call  themselves  Christians. 

The  first  answer  is  what  we  may  call  the  an- 
swer of  natural  religion.  Jesus  Christ  was  the 
best  man  that  ever  lived;  the  greatest  of  all  the 
saints.  After  waiting  for  centuries  God  finally 
found  in  him  a  man  after  His  own  heart,  so  god- 
like in  character  that  he  might  even  be  called 
divine.  In  that  sense,  that  he  was  so  godlike  in 
character,  he  manifested  God  to  the  world.  But 
he  was  entirely  human  like  the  rest  of  us :  he  was 
bom  in  the  natural  way  of  a  human  father  and 
mother;  he  lived  a  perfectly  natural  life;  there 
was  nothing  miraculous  about  him  at  all ;  he  went 
through  all  the  same  experiences  through  which 
we  must  pass,  only  he  withstood  all  temptation 
and  came  forth  triumphant  without  a  scar  and 

"5 


Il6       THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

without  a  stain.  His  life  was  terminated  by  his 
death  upon  the  cross.  That  was  the  end. 
Among  his  devoted  followers  fanciful  stories 
soon  developed,  about  his  conception  and  nativity, 
his  infancy  and  childhood,  a  ministry  teeming 
with  miracles,  and  his  resurrection  and  ascension. 
His  disciples  could  not  believe  that  this  man 
whom  they  had  loved  so  deeply  could  have  come 
into  the  world  like  other  men,  or  that  death  had 
been  the  end.  So  they  invented  the  stories  which 
make  up  the  greater  part  of  the  gospel  narrative. 
Now  this  view  of  Christ  is  not  only  the  Uni- 
tarian view;  it  is  the  view  of  what  has  been  called 
"  the  wide  church,"  which  admirably  describes 
the  popular  religion  of  the  average  man  in  the 
street.  Perhaps  one  of  the  best  representatives 
of  "  the  wide  church  "  is  the  editor  of  The  Out- 
look,  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott.  In  one  of  his  later 
books  called  ''  My  Four  Anchors,"  he  describes 
the  character  of  our  Lord,  and  then  goes  on  to 
say :  "  That  is  a  character  worth  having,  that  is 
a  life  worth  living.  And  that  is  what  I  mean  by 
the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.  There  is  not  a  great 
deal,  now,  of  debate  between  Unitarians  and 
Trinitarians."  Then  further  on  he  says  :  "  I  do 
not  need  to  decide  whether  he  rose  from  the  dead. 
I  do  not  need  to  decide  whether  he  made  water 
into  wine,  or  fed  five  thousand  with  two  loaves 


THE   INCARNATION  II7 

and  five  little  fishes.  Take  all  that  away,  and 
still  he  stands  the  one  transcendent  figure  toward 
whom  the  world  has  been  steadily  growing,  and 
whom  the  world  has  not  yet  overtaken  even  in 
his  teachings."  A  little  later  he  says:  **  I  do 
not  know  what  is  his  metaphysical  relation  to  the 
Infinite.  I  say  it  reverently  —  I  do  not  care." 
('*  My  Four  Anchors,"  pp.  24,  27,  32.) 

This  answer  would  no  doubt  be  given  in  sub- 
stantially the  same  way  by  some  men  in  the  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  to-day:  not  by  all,  of 
course,  but  by  many  of  the  men  who  call  them- 
selves Broad  Churchmen.  Not  long  ago  the 
Dean  of  the  Cambridge  Theological  School,  Dr. 
Hodges,  brought  out  a  book  called  "  Everyman's 
Religion."  In  that  book  he  quotes  something 
that  Dr.  Everett  of  Harvard  wrote  about  our 
Lord :  "  His  divinity  is  not  that  of  one  who  has 
come  down  from  above;  it  is  that  of  the  life  in 
which  the  divine  element  that  has  been  working 
in  the  world  comes  at  last  to  its  consummation." 
The  comment  of  Dean  Hodges  upon  these  words 
is,  *'  This  may  not  satisfy  all  the  requirements  of 
the  Nicene  theology,  but  it  touches  the  heart  of 
the  truth." 

The  other  answer  to  the  question,  ''  What  think 
ye  of  Christ?"  is  a  radically  different  answer. 
It  is  the  answer  of  the  Catholic  religion.     Jesus 


Il8       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

was  the  Son  of  God  made  man;  His  divinity  is 
that  of  one  who  came  down  from  Heaven;  He 
was  conceived  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  born  of  the 
Virgin  Mary.  His  pubHc  ministry  was  full  of 
miracles;  after  His  death  and  burial  He  rose 
from  the  dead;  He  ascended  into  heaven,  and  is 
now  reigning  in  power  and  glory  in  the  Kingdom 
of  the  Father. 

It  does  not  take  so  long  to  explain  this  answer, 
for  it  is  very  clear-cut  and  dogmatic, —  so  simple 
and  brief  that  it  can  be  taught  to  children.  The 
answer  of  natural  religion  is  too  involved,  too 
hazy,  too  indefinite,  too  philosophical,  to  be  taught 
to  children ;  too  grand  to  be  taught  to  simple  folk. 

Now  the  question  is,  which  of  these  two  an- 
swers is  taught  by  the  Episcopal  Church?  On 
which  side  do  we  array  ourselves :  on  the  side  of 
the  Catholic  religion,  or  on  the  side  of  the  natural 
religion  of  the  man  in  the  street  ?  For  an  answer 
to  this  question  we  must  go  to  the  Prayer  Book; 
for  the  Prayer  Book  is  the  authoritative  state- 
ment of  our  standards  of  doctrine  and  worship 
and  practice.  Very  well  then,  let  us  turn  to  the 
Collect  for  Christmas  Day.  The  opening  words 
strike  no  uncertain  note :  "  Almighty  God,  who 
hast  given  us  thy  only-begotten  Son  to  take  our 
nature  upon  him,  and  as  at  this  time  to  be  born 
of  a  pure  virgin."     Or  let  us  turn  to  the  Proper 


THE   INCARNATION  1 19 

Preface  for  Christmas :  "  Because  thou  didst 
give  Jesus  Christ  thine  only  Son,  to  be  born  as  at 
this  time  for  us;  who,  by  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  was  made  very  man,  of  the  substance 
of  the  Virgin  Mary  his  mother;  and  that  with- 
out spot  of  sin,  to  make  us  clean  from  all  sin.'' 
This  is  the  same  faith  which  we  profess  in  the 
Nicene  Creed :  "  And  in  one  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
the  only-begotten  Son  of  God;  Begotten  of  his 
Father  before  all  worlds,  God  of  God,  Light  of 
Light,  Very  God  of  very  God;  Begotten,  not 
made;  Being  of  one  substance  with  the  Father; 
By  whom  all  things  were  made ;  Who  for  us  men 
and  for  our  salvation  came  down  from  heaven, 
And  was  incarnate  by  the  Holy  Ghost  of  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,  And  was  made  man."  If  anyone 
wishes  any  further  evidence  that  the  Prayer  Book 
teaches  the  Catholic  Faith  in  the  Incarnation  of 
our  Lord,  let  him  read  the  second  of  the  Thirty- 
nine  Articles. 

What  difference  does  it  make  which  of  these 
two  views  we  take?  It  makes  all  the  difference 
that  there  is  between  hope  and  despair,  between 
light  and  darkness.  Either  God  has  visited  and 
redeemed  His  people  or  He  has  not.  We  must 
choose  one  horn  of  the  dilemma. 

If  the  Catholic  doctrine  of  the  Incarnation  be 
true,  then  indeed  God  has  rent  the  veil.     The 


I20       THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

eternal  Son  has  come  into  our  world,  taken  our 
human  nature,  spoken  through  human  lips, 
thought  through  a  human  mind,  ministered  with 
human  hands,  walked  on  human  feet,  and  loved 
with  a  human  heart.  As  we  look  upon  the  Cross, 
we  realize  that  it  makes  a  tremendous  difference 
whether  the  figure  hanging  there  is  the  incarnate 
Son  of  God  or  simply  a  good  man;  for  upon  that 
depends  whether  it  was  an  atonement  for  the  sins 
of  the  world  or  simply  a  martyr's  death  for  a 
principle.  If  God  has  come  into  the  world,  as 
we  believe  and  as  the  Prayer  Book  teaches,  then 
as  we  contemplate  the  life  of  our  Lord,  we  know 
that  we  have  found  a  clear  and  distinct  revelation 
of  the  Divine  will  as  to  the  kind  of  life  we  should 
try  to  live.  We  need  no  longer  walk  in  dark- 
ness, for  the  Light  of  the  world  has  made  clear 
the  path  that  we  should  take. 

If  on  the  other  hand  God  has  not  come  into  our 
world,  and  has  not  spoken  clearly  and  distinctly, 
then  there  is  no  revelation  of  God  of  which  we 
may  be  sure.  For  if  Jesus  was  simply  a  man  like 
the  rest  of  us,  then  there  is  no  reason  why  w^e 
should  accept  his  example  as  our  ideal  any  more 
than  the  example  of  Buddha  or  Mohammed  or 
Confucius  or  Nietzsche.  Confronted  by  all  these 
different  ideals  of  character,  how  are  we  to  know 
which  of  them  is  the  truest  and  the  best?     If  we 


THE   INCARNATION  121 

simply  choose  the  one  that  most  appeals  to  us, 
how  do  we  know  that  we  are  not  deluded  or  mis- 
taken ? 

At  any  rate  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  tlie 
Prayer  Book  teaches  that  the  Son  of  God  has  be- 
come incarnate  by  the  Holy  Ghost  of  the  Virgin 
Mary,  and  that  because  of  that  fact  we  may  be 
born  again  and  made  the  children  of  God  by  adop- 
tion and  grace,  and  by  the  cross  and  passion  of 
Christ  we  may  be  brought  unto  the  glory  of  His 
resurrection. 


IX 

THE  SACRAMENTAL  SYSTEM 

^^:^HE  Christian  religion  is  admirably  summed 
^^y  up  in  the  Collect  for  Christmas-day: 
"  Almighty  God,  who  hast  given  us  thy  only- 
begotten  Son  to  take  our  nature  upon  him,  and  as 
at  this  time  to  be  born  of  a  pure  virgin;  Grant 
that  we  being  regenerate,  and  made  thy  children 
by  adoption  and  grace,  may  daily  be  renewed  by 
thy  Holy  Spirit;  through  the  same  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  who  liveth  and  reigneth  with  thee 
and  the  same  Spirit  ever,  one  God,  world  without 
end.     Amen.'* 

The  Incarnation  is  here  set  forth  as  the  basis 
of  the  Christian  Covenant.  And  then  we  ask 
that  we  may  be  regenerate  and  made  God's  chil- 
dren by  adoption  and  grace;  and  that  we  may 
daily  be  renewed  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  In  other 
words,  we  are  to  be  born  again  and  made  God's 
children  by  the  sacrament  of  Holy  Baptism;  and 
to  be  given  grace  for  all  our  daily  needs,  by 
means  of  the  other  sacraments.     Of  course  we 

122 


THE   SACRAMENTAL   SYSTEM  I23 

cannot  draw  all  this  teaching  from  the  words 
of  the  Collect;  but  when  we  look  at  the  other 
teaching  of  the  Prayer  Book,  we  see  plainly  that 
the  sacraments  are  considered  as  the  means  by 
which  we  are  brought  into  union  with  the  incar- 
nate Son  of  God,  or  are  kept  in  union  with  Him, 
or  restored  to  that  union  after  we  have  fallen 
away. 

The  Church,  the  bride  of  Christ,  is  our  loving 
Mother.  She  cares  for  us  from  the  cradle  to 
the  grave.  She  brings  the  infant  to  the  font  to 
be  made  one  with  Christ ;  she  brings  the  child  who 
has  arrived  at  years  of  discretion  to  the  Bishop, 
to  receive  through  the  laying  on  of  hands  the 
strengthening  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  she  feeds 
us  throughout  the  time  of  our  earthly  pilgrimage 
with  the  Bread  of  Life;  she  unites  a  man  and  a 
woman  in  Holy  Matrimony,  and  conveys  to  them 
from  Christ  the  grace  to  fulfil  the  obligation  of 
that  holy  estate;  she  brings  to  the  Bishop  the 
man  who  has  been  called  of  God  to  serve  Him 
in  one  of  the  sacred  orders  of  the  Ministry,  that 
through  the  laying  on  of  hands  he  may  receive 
the  Holy  Ghost  for  the  office  and  work  to  which 
he  has  been  called ;  she  applies  the  merits  of  the 
Precious  Blood  of  Christ  to  the  penitent  sinner 
through  the  words  of  absolution  spoken  by  the 
priest;  and  finally  through  anointing  with  the 


124       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

holy  oils  she  comforts  and  restores  her  children 
who  are  suffering  from  serious  illness,  or  enables 
them  to  meet  the  terrors  of  death  with  faith  and 
resignation. 

Now  let  us  see  just  what  is  the  teaching  of  the 
Prayer  Book  concerning  the  sacraments.  Are 
they  regarded  as  real  means  of  union  with  Christ, 
or  are  they  simply  tokens  of  a  spiritual  condition 
already  existing,  without  any  power  to  effect  a 
change  in  the  recipient?  The  definition  of  a  sac- 
rament in  the  Church  Catechism  is  very  clear-cut 
and  decisive :  "  an  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an 
inward  and  spiritual  grace  given  unto  us ;  or- 
dained by  Christ  Himself,  as  a  means  whereby  we 
receive  the  same,  and  a  pledge  to  assure  us 
thereof."  Thus  the  effect  of  Baptism  upon  the 
child  is  that  he  is  "  regenerated  and  grafted  into 
the  body  of  Christ's  Church."  In  the  sacrament 
of  the  Eucharist  the  inward  part  is  "  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ,  which  are  verily  and  indeed 
taken  and  received  by  the  faithful."  It  is  plain 
therefore  that  the  Prayer  Book  teaches  that  the 
sacraments  are  effectual  signs, —  signs  which 
have  the  power  to  effect  what  they  signify. 

The  Protestant  confessions  of  faith  may  per- 
haps be  interpreted  as  teaching  that  the  outward 
action  in  a  sacrament  is  a  sign  of  saving  faith 
in  the  recipient,  but  they  explicitly  deny  that  it  is 


THE   SACRAMENTAL   SYSTEM  I25 

a  means  by  which  grace  or  faith  are  conferred. 
The  CongregationaHsts  hold  that  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per "  is  to  be  celebrated  by  Christian  Churches 
as  a  token  of  faith  in  the  Saviour,  and  of  broth- 
erly love.  The  Baptists  teach  that  '*  Baptism  is 
an  ordinance  of  the  New  Testament,  given  by 
Christ,  to  be  dispensed  upon  persons  professing 
the  faith,  or  that  are  made  disciples;  who,  upon 
profession  of  faith,  ought  to  be  baptized,  and 
after  to  partake  of  the  Lord's  Supper."  (Cur- 
tis, *'  Dissent  in  Its  Relation  to  the  Church  of 
England,"  pp.  128,  143.) 

The  difference  is  indeed  striking.  The  Protes- 
tant formularies  hold  that  sacraments  are  to  be 
administered  as  tokens  that  people  are  in  an  ideal 
spiritual  condition;  the  Prayer  Book  holds  that 
sacraments  confer  grace,  and  so  help  to  produce 
an  ideal  spiritual  condition. 

The  difference  in  these  two  views  may  be  made 
clearer  by  an  illustration.  If  a  group  of  school 
children  were  sent  to  the  dentist  to  have  their 
teeth  examined,  and  cards  were  given  to  all  the 
children  who  were  found  to  have  perfect  teeth, 
those  cards  would  be  like  the  sacraments  from 
the  Protestant  point  of  view.  If,  on  the  other 
hand,  cards  were  given  only  to  children  who  had 
defective  teeth,  and  these  cards  gave  them  the 
right  to  be  properly  treated  by  the  dentist,  the 


126       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

cards  would  then  be  like  the  sacraments  from  the 
Catholic  point  of  view. 

The  conviction  of  the  Church  in  this  matter  is 
further  expressed  in  Article  XXVI,  which  asserts 
that  the  un worthiness  of  the  ministers  does  not 
hinder  the  effect  of  the  sacraments : 

**  Although  in  the  visible  Church  the  evil  be 
ever  mingled  with  the  good,  and  sometimes  the 
evil  have  chief  authority  in  the  Ministration 
of  the  Word  and  Sacraments,  yet  forasmuch 
as  they  do  not  the  same  in  their  own  name,  but  in 
Christ's,  and  do  minister  by  his  commission  and 
authority,  we  may  use  their  Ministry,  both  in 
hearing  the  Word  of  God,  and  in  receiving  the 
Sacraments.  Neither  is  the  effect  of  Christ's 
ordinance  taken  away  by  their  wickedness,  nor 
the  grace  of  God's  gifts  from  such  as  by  faith, 
and  rightly,  do  receive  the  Sacraments  ministered 
unto  them:  which  be  effectual,  because  of  Christ's 
institution  and  promise,  although  they  be  minis- 
tered by  evil  men." 

This  article  does  not  mean  that  the  Church  con- 
dones unworthiness  in  her  ministers,  for  in  the 
second  part  it  is  expressly  stated  that  such  minis- 
ters should  be  deposed.  It  is  rather  intended  to 
guard  people  against  undue  scruple  and  anxiety 
in  receiving  the  sacraments.  For  if  they  were 
effectual  means  of  grace  only  when  administered 


THE   SACRAMENTAL   SYSTEM  1 27 

by  morally  sincere  and  worthy  ministers,  the  peo- 
ple could  never  know  whether  or  not  they  were 
receiving  valid  sacraments. 

Thus  it  is  plainly  the  teaching  of  the  Prayer 
Book  that  whenever  we  receive  any  of  the  sac- 
raments we  receive  a  real  spiritual  gift,  we  be- 
come "  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature."  But  of 
course  this  gift  will  be  of  no  avail  to  us  unless 
we  sincerely  co-operate  with  it.  There  are  two 
ways  in  which  we  must  co-operate :  by  preparing 
our  souls  in  advance  so  that  they  will  be  good  soil 
for  the  Divine  seed  to  grow  in ;  and  by  using  the 
Divine  gifts  with  whole-hearted  energy  and  ap- 
plication. 

The  parable  of  the  Sower  teaches  us  the  impor- 
tance of  the  kind  of  soil  in  which  the  seed  is  sown. 
The  parable  of  the  Talents  teaches  us  the  danger 
of  incurring  the  Divine  condemnation  by  keeping 
our  talents  wrapped  in  a  napkin.  Some  of  us 
receive  more  grace  than  others,  just  as  one  man 
in  the  parable  received  five  talents,  another  two, 
and  another  one.  If  we  do  receive  the  sacra- 
ments frequently  we  must  show  the  results  in  our 
lives  and  our  work.  "  To  whom  much  has  been 
given,  of  him  shall  much  be  required." 


X 


THE  NATURE  AND  NUMBER  OF  THE 
SACRAMENTS 

XT  is  one  of  the  most  striking  miracles  of 
ecclesiastical  history  that  the  Anglican 
Church,  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  sur- 
rounded and  invaded  by  Protestant  teachers, 
should  have  so  largely  remained  loyal  to  the  faith 
and  practice  of  Catholic  Christendom.  This  is 
especially  noticeable  in  her  teaching  on  the  sac- 
raments. For  it  was  upon  the  subject  of  the 
sacraments  that  there  was  the  widest  divergence 
between  Catholic  and  Protestant  teaching. 

Let  us  see  first  what  was  the  teaching  of  the 
great  Protestant  leaders  of  the  Reformation  era. 
Zwingli  held  the  sacraments  in  the  lowest  possi- 
ble esteem.  He  taught  that  they  were  merely 
signs  of  a  covenant  between  man  and  man;  they 
were  external  things  without  any  spiritual  value 
in  themselves,  and  without  any  spiritual  effect 
upon  those  who  received  them.  Luther  and  Me- 
lanchthon  held  that  the  sacraments  were  tokens 

128 


NATURE   AND    NUMBER   OE   SACRAMENTS       1 29 

of  a  covenant  between  God  and  man,  pledges  of 
the  truth  in  the  Divine  promises  of  forgiveness, 
and  means  of  assurance  and  peace.  Their  effect 
was  confined  to  the  subjective  acts  of  the  indi- 
vidual at  the  moment  of  reception,  Luther  va- 
ried in  his  teaching  from  time  to  time;  but  his 
permanent  belief  was  that  the  sacraments  were  a 
sort  of  visible  preaching  to  enkindle  faith.  Cal- 
vin taught  that  only  the  elect  received  Divine 
grace;  and  therefore  in  his  opinion  the  inward 
grace  of  the  sacrament  was  divorced  from  the 
outward  sign.  In  general,  the  Protestants  held 
that  the  sacraments  could  have  merely  a  subjec- 
tive effect,  and  that  objectively  they  were  not 
means  of  grace  at  all.  The  Catholic  view  was 
that  the  sacraments  were  actual  and  objective 
means  of  grace,  effecting  what  they  signified  in 
the  souls  of  the  recipients. 

Now  let  us  see  what  is  the  teaching  of  Article 
XXV  in  the  Prayer  Book  on  the  nature  of  the 
sacraments.  The  first  paragraph  reads  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Sacraments  ordained  of  Christ,  be  not 
only  badges  or  tokens  of  Christian  men's  profes- 
sion, but  rather  they  be  certain  sure  witnesses 
and  effectual  signs  of  grace  and  God's  good-will 
towards  us,  by  the  which  He  doth  work  invisibly 
in  us,  and  doth  not  only  quicken,  but  also 
strengthen  and  confirm  our  faith  in  Him."     This 


130       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

leaves  nothing  to  be  desired  as  a  declaration  of 
Catholic  doctrine  concerning  the  sacraments. 

As  to  the  teaching  of  the  Prayer  Book  on  the 
number  of  the  sacraments,  this  same  Article  goes 
on  to  name  all  the  Seven  Sacraments  of  Catholic 
tradition,  and  refrains  from  saying  that  any  of 
them  are  to  be  rejected.  If  it  were  the  intention 
of  the  Church  to  reject  one  or  more  of  the  seven, 
this  would  clearly  be  the  place  to  say  so.  What 
then  are  these  seven  Sacraments  as  named  in  the 
Prayer  Book?  Baptism,  the  Supper  of  the  Lord, 
Confirmation,  Penance,  Orders,  Matrimony,  and 
Extreme  Unction. 

Now  it  is  perfectly  true  that  the  Article  does 
divide  them  into  the  two  greater  and  the  five 
lesser  sacraments.  Baptism  and  the  Supper  of 
the  Lord  are  called  the  two  greater  sacraments, 
because  they  are  generally  necessary  to  salvation, 
—  which  means  necessary  for  all  states  of  life  or 
people  in  general, —  and  because  the  Gospel  gives 
us  a  record  of  their  having  been  ordained  by 
Christ  our  Lord.  The  institution  of  the  five 
lesser  sacraments  is  not  recorded  in  the  Gospel : 
and  these  sacraments  are  adapted  to  the  particu- 
lar needs  of  special  classes  of  people:  children 
coming  to  years  of  discretion,  those  repenting  of 
grievous  sin,  those  who  are  called  to  the  sacred 
ministry,  a  man  and  woman  seeking  to  be  united 


NATURE   AND   NUMBER   OE   SACRAMENTS       I3I 

in  wedlock,  and  those  who  are  seriously  sick  or 
in  danger  of  death.  These  lesser  sacraments 
might  be  called  sacraments  of  the  Church,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  sacraments  of  the  Gospel :  But 
as  our  Lord  gave  His  Divine  authority  to  the 
Church,  they  come  to  us  really  guaranteed  by  His 
authority. 

The  rest  of  the  language  in  the  Article  about 
the  five  lesser  sacraments  is  unfortunately  am- 
biguous and  obscure.  It  speaks  of  them  as  "  be- 
ing such  as  have  grown  partly  of  the  corrupt 
following  of  the  Apostles,  partly  are  states  of  life 
allowed  in  the  Scriptures."  The  use  of  the  word 
"  partly "  is  ambiguous,  because  it  may  mean 
that  part  of  the  rites  connected  with  each  sacra- 
ment may  have  come  from  the  corrupt  following 
of  the  Apostles,  or  that  one  or  more  out  of  the 
five  may  have  come  from  this  corrupt  following. 
If  the  latter  be  the  one  intended,  it  does  not  tell 
which  of  the  sacraments  are  to  be  thus  singled  out 
for  vituperation.  The  former  meaning  is  the 
only  one  that  makes  sense.  For  it  is  historically 
true  that  during  the  middle  ages  the  administra- 
tion of  the  sacraments  had  become  cluttered  up 
with  all  sorts  of  extraneous  rites  and  ceremonies 
which  often  hid  rather  than  expressed  the  true 
significance  of  the  sacraments  themselves. 

Fortunately  this  article  is  not  the  only  teaching 


132       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

of  the  Prayer  Book  upon  the  subject  of  the  sac- 
raments. In  the  case  of  three  of  the  five  lesser 
sacraments,  we  have  forms  for  their  administra- 
tion duly  set  forth  in  the  Prayer  Book ;  and  these 
forms  bear  witness  to  the  belief  of  the  Church 
that  in  these  sacraments  there  is  an  outward  sign 
which  conveys  an  inward  grace.  In  Confirma- 
tion through  the  outward  sign  of  the  laying  on  of 
the  Bishop's  hands  and  the  form  of  words  accom- 
panying that  act,  the  soul  is  strengthened  with  the 
Holy  Ghost  the  Comforter  and  given  power  daily 
to  increase  in  His  seven-fold  gifts  of  grace.  In 
Matrimony,  through  the  outward  sign  of  the  giv- 
ing formal  consent  and  the  giving  and  receiving 
a  ring,  and  through  the  Benediction  given  by  the 
Priest,  the  man  and  woman  are  filled  with  spirit- 
ual benediction  and  grace,  to  enable  them  so  to 
live  together  in  this  life  that  they  may  in  the 
world  to  come  have  life  everlasting.  In  Orders, 
—  to  illustrate  by  the  ''  Form  and  Manner  of 
Ordering  Priests," —  through  the  laying  on  of  the 
Bishop's  hands  the  young  deacon  receives  the 
Holy  Ghost  for  the  of^ce  and  work  of  a  priest 
in  the  Church  of  God. 

The  American  Prayer  Book  contains  no  definite 
form  of  absolution  suitable  for  use  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  Penance.  In  the  English  Prayer  Book, 
in  the  Office  for  Visitation  of  the  Sick,  the  sick 


NATURE   AND   NUMBER   OE   SACRAMENTS       133 

person  is  "  to  be  moved  to  make  a  special  confes- 
sion of  his  sins,  if  he  feels  his  conscience  trou- 
bled with  any  weighty  matter."  And  then  the 
Priest  is  directed  ''  to  absolve  him,  if  he  humbly 
and  heartily  desire  it,  after  this  sort :  *'  Our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  hath  left  power  to  his 
Church  to  absolve  all  sinners,  who  truly  repent 
and  believe  in  him,  of  his  great  mercy  forgive  thee 
thine  offences;  and  by  his  authority  committed 
to  me,  I  absolve  thee  from  all  thy  sins,  in  the 
name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost.  Amen."  Our  Prayer  Book,  how- 
ever, plainly  teaches  that  in  the  ordination  of  a 
priest  he  is  given  the  power  of  absolution;  for 
these  words  used  by  the  Bishop  admit  of  no  other 
meaning :  "  Whose  sins  thou  dost  forgive,  they 
art  forgiven;  and  whose  sins  thou  dost  retain, 
they  are  retained."  Therefore  if  the  priest  is  to 
exercise  that  power,  he  must  use  the  form  of 
absolution  sanctioned  by  centuries  of  use  in  the 
Catholic  Church  and  officially  set  forth  by  the 
Church  of  England. 

It  is  greatly  to  be  deplored  that  there  is  no  pro- 
vision in  our  Prayer  Book  for  the  Unction  of  the 
Sick.  In  the  words  of  Bishop  Forbes,  "  the  unc- 
tion of  the  sick  is  the  lost  pleiad  of  the  Anglican 
firmament."  But  if  the  Prayer  Book  is  silent 
about  anointing  the  sick  with  holy  oil,  the  New 


134       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Testament  is  not  silent.  The  injunction  of  the 
Apostle  James  is  clear  and  unmistakable :  "  Is 
any  sick  among  you  ?  Let  him  call  for  the  elders 
(meaning  presbyters)  of  the  Church.  And  let 
them  pray  over  him,  anointing  him  with  oil  in 
the  name  of  the  Lord."  Therefore  if  our  people 
are  to  obey  the  Bible,  it  is  the  duty  of  our  Bishops 
to  consecrate  the  Holy  Oils,  and  our  priests 
should  always  be  ready  to  heed  the  call  of  the 
sick  and  anoint  them  with  oil  in  accordance  with 
Catholic  precedent. 


XI 

REGENERATION  IN  BAPTISM 

^^^!^HE  Baptism  of  Infants  is  a  very  beautiful 
^^y  and  impressive  ceremony.  There  are  cer- 
tain features  about  it  that  would  commend  it  to 
all  people,  whether  they  were  professing  Chris- 
tians or  not.  It  must  seem  fitting  to  everybody 
that  a  little  child  should  be  brought  as  early  as 
possible  to  be  dedicated  to  the  service  of  God. 
Then  too  the  act  of  giving  a  child  a  name,  which 
he  is  to  bear  through  life,  should  be  surrounded 
with  a  certain  amount  of  ceremony  and  dignity. 
It  would  seem  reasonable  also  that  the  parents 
should  come  at  a  stated  time  and  give  some  sort 
of  a  pledge  for  the  right  bringing  up  of  their 
children;  and  that  there  should  come  with  them 
friends  who  would  promise  to  take  the  place  of 
the  parents,  if  the  parents  should  die  or  should 
fail  to  bring  up  their  children  properly.  To  all 
Christians  it  cannot  but  seem  expedient  and 
proper  that  little  children  should  be  brought  very 
early  to  Christ.  It  does  not  require  a  great  deal 
of  religion  to  believe  that  our  Lord  may  exert 

135 


136       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

some  influence  upon  a  child,  even  before  it  has 
arrived  at  years  of  discretion.  We  recall  the 
instance  in  our  Lord's  ministry  vi^hen  mothers 
brought  their  babies  to  Christ,  and  He  laid  His 
hands  upon  them  and  blessed  them.  His  disci- 
ples did  not  see  the  sense  of  bringing  babies  to 
their  Master,  and  would  have  kept  them  from 
Him;  but  He  rebuked  them  and  said,  "  Suffer  the 
little  children  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them 
not:  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 

This  much,  at  least,  most  people  would  be  will- 
ing to  believe  about  the  Baptism  of  Infants.  But 
the  Church  asks  us  to  believe  a  great  deal  more 
than  this.  The  Church  accepts  all  that  is  taught 
by  natural  religion;  and  in  addition  asks  us  to 
believe  in  certain  supernatural  effects  of  Baptism. 
We  can  see  w^ith  our  eyes  some  of  the  natural 
advantages  of  Baptism;  the  Church  asks  us  to 
believe  in  something  we  cannot  see,  something 
that  takes  place  in  the  soul  of  the  child. 

The  supernatural  change  that  is  effected  by 
Baptism  is  called  regeneration,  or  new  birth.  In 
the  Prayer  Book  offices  for  Baptism,  immediately 
after  Baptism  is  administered,  we  find  these 
words,  ''  Seeing  now,  dearly  beloved  brethren, 
that  this  Child  (or  this  Person)  is  regenerate, 
and  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's  Church,  let 
us  give  thanks  unto  Almighty  God  for  these  bene- 


REGENERATION    IN    BAPTISM  137 

fits."  This  supernatural  effect  of  Baptism  was 
taught  by  our  Lord  when  He  said,  "  Except  a 
man  be  born  of  water  and  of  the  Spirit,  he  cannot 
enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God."  This  however 
is  not  altogether  clear  to  most  people :  for  the  con- 
ception of  a  new  birth  is  not  one  that  seems 
plausible  to  the  natural  reason.  In  fact,  it  is  im- 
possible to  describe  it  adequately;  we  can  only 
approach  the  description  of  this  spiritual  experi- 
ence through  symbols  and  figures  of  speech. 

We  may  say  that  the  new  birth  in  Baptism  is 
like  the  planting  of  a  seed  in  the  ground.  When 
a  person  is  baptized  a  seed  of  new  life  is  planted 
within  him.  When  a  seed  is  planted  in  the  soil, 
it  does  not  necessarily  follow  that  a  plant  or  a 
tree  will  grow  up  in  that  spot.  Whether  any- 
thing will  grow  there  depends  upon  the  nature  of 
the  soil,  the  supply  of  rain  and  sunshine,  the  pres- 
ence or  absence  of  weeds,  and  so  forth.  It  is 
very  much  the  same  with  the  seed  of  new  life 
that  was  planted  in  our  souls  when  we  were  bap- 
tized. The  fact  that  we  were  baptized  is  no  guar- 
antee that  anything  good  is  going  to  come  of  it. 
In  a  great  many  cases  nothing  good  does  come 
of  it.  That  is  why  there  are  so  many  baptized 
people  that  are  a  disgrace  to  the  Christian  Church. 
But  that  is  no  argument  against  Baptism. 
Whether  the  seed  of  new  life  planted  in  Baptism 


138       THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

will  bring  forth  the  fruit  of  good  living  or  not 
depends  upon  the  amount  and  kind  of  cultivation 
which  that  new  life  receives.  If  we  practice  our 
religion  sincerely  and  earnestly,  if  we  avoid  evil 
companions,  if  we  pray  daily  and  receive  the  sac- 
raments with  devotion  and  faith,  if  we  are  regu- 
lar in  the  worship  of  God,  if  we  truly  repent  of 
our  sins,  if  we  are  trying  daily  to  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  our  Saviour  Christ,  then  from  that  seed 
of  new  life  planted  in  us  at  Baptism  there  ought 
to  be  growling  up  a  new  life,  which  will  gradually 
crowd  out  the  old. 

By  nature  we  are  the  children  of  a  fallen  race. 
That  is  the  meaning  of  original  sin.  God  created 
the  human  race  with  the  gift  of  His  life,  in  a 
state  of  righteousness.  At  the  very  beginning 
of  the  race  the  life  of  God  was  lost  through  sin, 
and  that  accounts  for  our  inheriting  a  nature 
which  easily  falls  into  sin.  We  have  inherited 
human  nature  bereft  of  the  life  of  God.  But  God 
has  mercifully  provided  that  we  may  be  born 
again  and  receive  the  life  of  God  through  Bap- 
tism. The  actual  facts  seem  to  belie  this  theory : 
but  the  reason  is  that  we  have  all  sinned  since  our 
Baptism.  Had  we  used  the  grace  which  God 
through  Baptism  entrusted  to  us,  sin  would  not 
now  have  such  hold  upon  us. 

We  might  state  the  matter  in  still  another  way. 


REGENERATION    IN    BAPTISM  I39 

The  human  race  has  been  a  failure.  God  looked 
back  over  human  history  and  saw  that  from  the 
very  beginning  that  history  had  been  marked  by 
sin.  God  willed  to  blot  out  this  huge  mistake 
by  making  a  new  creation.  "  Behold,  I  make  all 
things  new."  He  willed  to  form  on  the  earth  a 
new  human  family,  and  to  that  end  He  sent  His 
only-begotten  Son  into  the  world.  The  incarnate 
Son  of  God  became  the  second  Adam,  the  new 
Head  of  the  race.  God  provided  that  all  men 
might  be  united  to  that  second  Adam,  taken  up 
into  the  family  of  God,  grafted  into  the  new  crea- 
tion, through  the  sacrament  of  Baptism.  By 
Baptism  we  are  made  "  members  of  Christ,  chil- 
dren of  God,  and  inheritors  of  the  kingdom  of 
heaven." 

Baptism,  simple  as  it  is,  carries  with  it  tre- 
mendous obligations.  The  Church  thus  ad- 
dresses the  sponsors  who  answer  for  the  infant: 
*'  Ye  are  to  take  care  that  this  child  be  virtuously 
brought  up  to  live  a  godly  and  a  Christian  life; 
remembering  always  that  Baptism  doth  represent 
unto  us  our  profession;  which  is,  to  follow  the 
example  of  our  Saviour  Christ,  and  to  be  made 
like  unto  Him;  that,  as  He  died  and  rose  again 
for  us,  so  should  we  who  are  baptized  die  from 
sin,  and  rise  again  unto  righteousness ;  continually 
mortifying  all  our  evil  and  corrupt  affections,  and 


140       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

daily  proceeding  in  all  virtue  and  godliness  of  liv- 
ing." That  is  the  obligation  that  rests  upon  all 
of  us  who  have  been  baptized.  The  life  of  the 
baptized  must  necessarily  be  different  from  the 
life  of  the  unbaptized.  God  expects  great  things 
from  us  in  our  character  and  in  our  actions.  God 
has  given  us  the  power  to  do  great  things;  and 
we  are  responsible  in  His  sight  for  a  terrible  fail- 
ure if  we  do  not  live  up  to  that  high  calling. 


XII 


THE  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  BAP- 
TIZED AND  THE  UNBAPTIZED 

the  beginning  of  the  Order  in  the  Prayer 
Book  for  the  Burial  of  the  Dead  this  rubric 
is  to  be  found :  "  Here  is  to  be  noted,  that  the 
Office  ensuing  is  not  to  be  used  for  any  unbap- 
tized  aduhs,  any  who  die  excommunicate,  or  who 
have  laid  violent  hands  upon  themselves."  It 
must  seem  to  many  that  this  classifying  of  unbap- 
tized  adults  with  those  who  die  excommunicate, 
and  with  those  who  have  committed  suicide,  is 
rather  a  harsh  stricture  upon  the  unbaptized. 
For  we  know  there  are  many  adults  who  are  un- 
baptized through  no  fault  of  their  own,  but  simply 
because  they  never  had  the  importance  of  baptism 
brought  to  their  attention.  Many  of  them  are 
good  people,  thoroughly  respectable  and  decent 
members  of  the  community.  Their  lives  may  be 
largely  governed  by  Christian  standards  of  mo- 
rality.    Indeed    they    look   upon   themselves   as 

141 


142       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Christians  and  would  feel  insulted  if  some  one 
spoke  of  them  as  heathen  or  pagan. 

Why  should  there  be  this  discrimination  against 
unbaptized  adults?  What  can  the  Church  mean 
by  refusing  to  allow  her  burial  office  to  be  read 
over  the  bodies  of  those  who  die  unbaptized? 

The  answer  is  that  the  Church  has  composed 
this  office  for  those  who  die  in  sacramental  union 
with  Christ,  and  who  therefore  are  members  of 
His  mystical  Body  the  Church.  If  a  man  has 
been  baptized  and  has  not  been  put  out  of  the 
communion  of  the  Church  nor  taken  his  own  life, 
the  Church  assumes  that  he  was  in  a  state  of 
grace  when  he  died  and  therefore  that  he  is  in 
Christ.  There  are  many  statements  in  the  Burial 
Office  which  are  intelligible  only  on  the  suppo- 
sition that  the  deceased  person  was  by  virtue  of 
his  baptism  a  member  of  Christ,  the  child  of 
God,  and  an  inheritor  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

Let  us  look  at  the  Burial  Office  with  this  in 
mind.  Take  the  opening  sentence  for  example: 
"  I  am  the  resurrection  and  the  life,  saith  the 
Lord :  he  that  believeth  in  me,  though  he  were 
dead,  yet  shall  he  live :  and  whosoever  liveth  and 
believeth  in  me,  shall  never  die."  This  plainly 
implies  that  the  deceased  person  has  made  some 
definite  act  of  faith  in  Christ,  that  he  has  by  bap- 
tism put  on  Christ.     The  familiar  sentence  which 


BAPTIZED   AND   THE   UNBAPTIZED  I43 

is  said  at  the  grave  and  is  so  full  of  comfort  for 
mourners,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead  who  die  in  the 
Lord,"  brings  to  the  mind  instantly  the  fact  of 
the  mystical  union  with  Christ  which  began  at 
baptism  and  has  been  developed  and  strengthened 
by  a  life  of  faithful  discipleship.  The  wonderful 
burst  of  praise  at  the  end  of  the  Lesson,  "  Thanks 
be  to  God,  which  giveth  us  the  victory  through 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  would  mean  nothing  ex- 
cept for  those  who  have  in  some  way  been  brought 
into  vital  relation  with  the  victory  of  Christ. 
The  prayer,  "  Almighty  God,  with  whom  do  live 
the  spirits  of  those  who  depart  hence  in  the  Lord  " 
and  also  the  prayer  **  O  Merciful  God,  the  Father 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who  is  the  Resurrection 
and  the  Life;  in  whom  whosoever  believeth,  shall 
live,  though  he  die,"  are  both  applicable  only  to 
those  who  can  in  some  very  real  sense  be  consid- 
ered as  being  members  of  the  mystical  Body  of 
Christ. 

The  Church  holds  that  certain  things  may  be  as- 
serted as  definitely  true  of  those  who  have  been 
baptized  and  have  not  shut  themselves  off  from 
the  love  of  Christ  by  mortal  sin ;  or  of  those  who, 
if  they  have  shut  themselves  off,  have  been  re- 
stored through  penitence  and  absolution.  The 
Church  says  nothing  of  the  unbaptized.  The 
Church  does  not  profess  to  have  any  definite 


144       THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

knowledge  of  their  condition  either  in  this  Hfe  or 
the  Hfe  hereafter.  She  has  on  the  other  hand 
very  positive  convictions,  based  upon  the  definite 
promises  in  the  Gospel,  as  to  the  spiritual  state  of 
the  baptized.  The  Church  leaves  the  unbaptized 
to  the  uncovenanted  mercies  of  God.  God  may, 
and  doubtless  does,  bestow  rich  gifts  of  grace 
upon  those  who  have  never  been  baptized.  No 
one  can  question  this  who  has  known  anything  of 
the  saintly  lives  of  many  members  of  the  Quaker 
sect.  Then  too  there  are  many  people  in  heathen 
lands,  such  as  India  for  example,  who  have  at- 
tained to  high  states  of  mystical  perfection.  The 
Church  nowhere  says  that  the  unbaptized  are  lost. 
God  only  knows  what  has  become  of  them.  And 
it  is  just  because  the  Church  does  not  know  any- 
thing about  the  unbaptized  that  she  refuses  to 
allow  her  Burial  Office  to  be  used  over  them.  She 
makes  in  the  Burial  Office  very  definite  statements 
as  to  the  spiritual  relation  of  the  departed  soul 
to  Christ.  This  she  would  have  no  right  to  do  in 
regard  to  the  unbaptized. 

The  Church  does  not  refuse  to  allow  this  Burial 
Office  to  be  used  for  unbaptized  infants.  This  is 
significant  in  view  of  what  is  often  urged  as  an 
objection  against  the  Church,  that  the  Church  is 
committed  to  the  belief  that  infants  who  die  un- 


BAPTIZED   AND   THE   UNBAPTIZED  145 

baptized  go  to  Hell.     Whatever  may  be  true  of 
certain  Calvinistic  bodies  this  statement  has  never 
been  made  in  any  portion  of  the  Anglican  Church. 
The  truth  is  that  the  Church  refuses  to  say  what 
happens  to  infants  who  die  unbaptized.     She  sim- 
ply urges  upon  the  parents  the  duty  of  bringing 
their  children  to  be  baptized,  and  lays  all  possible 
stress   upon   the   importance   of   this   duty.     By 
implication  she  blames  those  who  would  keep  their 
children  away  from  baptism.     The  Church  how- 
ever is  primarily  concerned  with  insisting  that 
great  spiritual  blessings  come  with  infant  baptism. 
No  doubt  there  is  the  background  of  Catholic 
tradition  which  should  be  considered  in  this  con- 
nection.    Catholic  tradition  teaches  that  infants 
who  die  unbaptized  do  not  go  to  Hell,  but  neither 
do  they  go  to  Heaven.     They  go  to  what  is  called 
by  the  theologians  the  limhiis  infant orum.     That 
is  the  border-land  of  Heaven,  a  condition  of  joy 
and  felicity  as  great  as  they  are  capable  of  enjoy- 
ing, who  have  never  been  born  again  in  Baptism. 
The  saying  of  our  Lord  that  "  Except  ye  be  born 
again  of  water  and  the  spirit,  ye  cannot  enter  into 
the  Kingdom  of  Heaven"  has  been  interpreted 
in  this  sense,  that  the  unbaptized  can  never  enter 
Heaven.     But  to  say  that  the  unbaptized  cannot 
enter  Heaven  is  not  the  same  as  to  say  that  they 


146       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

will  go  to  Hell.  The  instinct  of  the  Catholic 
Church  has  always  shrunk  from  any  such  conclu- 
sion as  that. 

The  Church  then  plainly  teaches  that  there  is  a 
difference  between  the  baptized  and  the  unbap- 
tized.  For  this  belief  we  have  the  authority  of 
Christ  Himself.  Speaking  of  S.  John  the  Baptist, 
He  said,  *'  Among  those  that  are  born  of  woman 
there  is  not  a  greater  prophet  than  John  the  Bap- 
tist :  but  he  that  is  least  in  the  Kingdom  of  God 
is  greater  than  he."  The  most  obscure  baptized 
infant  is  greater  than  the  wonderful  prophet,  John 
the  Baptist,  because  by  virtue  of  Christian  bap- 
tism the  infant  is  regenerate  and  grafted  into  the 
Body  of  Christ.  The  seed  of  a  new  spiritual  na- 
ture is  planted  in  the  infant's  soul.  Consequently 
the  spiritual  capacity  of  the  infant  is  vastly  greater 
than  the  spiritual  capacity  of  John  the  Baptist, 
or  David,  or  Abraham,  or  Plato,  or  Socrates. 

There  is  as  great  a  difference  between  the  inner 
nature  of  a  baptized  and  an  unbaptized  person  as 
there  is  between  the  inner  nature  of  a  man  and  a 
dog.  A  dog  is  capable  of  enjoying  a  bone,  or  of 
running  through  the  fields  in  pursuit  of  a  wounded 
bird ;  but  he  is  not  capable  of  sitting  down  in  his 
master's  library  and  enjoying  a  book.  So  the 
unbaptized  are  capable  of  great  physical,  intel- 
lectual, and  spiritual  joys;  and  no  doubt  they  will 


BAPTIZED   AND   THE   UNBAPTIZED  I47 

be  rewarded  in  the  next  world,  in  so  far  as  they 
have  Hved  up  to  what  Hght  they  had  here,  by 
being  permitted  to  share  in  the  highest  joys  of 
which  they  are  capable.  They  will  not  be  capable 
of  sharing  in  the  joys  of  Heaven,  because  they 
have  not  been  made  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature 
through  Christian  Baptism. 

On  such  grounds  mainly  is  to  be  based  the  jus- 
tification for  Christian  missions  to  the  heathen. 
We  wish  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach  the 
Gospel  to  every  creature  and  baptize  them  into 
the  Name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  in  order  that  they  may  be  given  a 
higher  spiritual  capacity.  They  will  then  be 
capable  of  enjoying  all  the  good  things  God  has 
prepared  for  them  that  love  Him,  both  in  this 
world  and  in  the  new  world  to  come. 


XIII 
CONFIRMATION 

^^^HERE  are  many  notions  current  about  Con- 
^^y  firmation  that  are  entirely  mistaken.  They 
spring  largely  from  the  chaotic  rehgious  situation 
which  surrounds  us.  It  is  not  surprising  that  peo- 
ple who  have  imbibed  their  religious  information 
from  all  sorts  of  teachers  and  lecturers  should 
have  erroneous  ideas  upon  some  points.  First 
then  it  may  be  well  to  lay  aside  some  of  these  er- 
roneous notions,  and  then  we  shall  be  in  a  position 
to  understand  what  Confirmation  really  is. 

Confirmation  is  not  joining  the  Church.  We 
join  the  Church  when  we  are  baptized.  In  the 
Public  Baptism  of  Infants,  we  pray  that  "he, 
being  delivered  from  thy  wrath,  may  be  received 
into  the  ark  of  Christ's  Church."  After  the  child 
is  baptized,  the  Minister  says,  "  Seeing  now, 
dearly  beloved  brethren,  that  this  child  is  regen- 
erate, and  grafted  into  the  body  of  Christ's 
Church."  The  mistake  of  course  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  many  Protestant  denominations  have  in- 
vented a  ceremony  which  they  call  "joining  the 

148 


CONFIRMATION  I49 

Church/'  which  consists  in  shaking  hands  with 
certain  persons  and  admitting  them  to  all  the  privi- 
leges of  that  particular  fellowship. 

Confirmation  is  not  the  religious  parallel  of 
graduation.  Our  spiritual  graduation  comes  at 
death,  for  it  is  then  that  our  days  of  schooling 
and  preparation  are  over  and  we  enter  upon  our 
real  life.  And  yet  many  children  are  taught  to 
look  upon  their  Confirmation  as  a  graduation 
from  Sunday  School,  and  often  from  the  Church. 
They  have  received  their  instructions  and  been 
presented  with  their  diploma, —  so  they  think, — 
and  only  too  frequently  they  turn  their  backs  upon 
the  Church  and  never  give  it  another  thought. 
The  Prayer  Book  affords  no  ground  for  any  such 
notion.  On  the  contrary  it  assumes  that  those 
who  are  confirmed  will  continue  to  practice  their 
religion  faithfully,  that  they  may  daily  increase 
in  the  manifold  gifts  of  grace.  The  Bishop  prays, 
"  let  thy  Holy  Spirit  ever  be  with  them ;  and  so 
lead  them  in  the  knowledge  and  obedience  of  thy 
Word,  that  in  the  end  they  may  obtain  everlast- 
ing life." 

Confirmation  is  not  the  assumption  of  a  new 
responsibility.  Somehow  the  extraordinary  no- 
tion has  grown  up  that  until  one  is  confirmed  the 
sponsors  are  entirely  responsible  for  the  keeping 
of  the  baptismal  vows,  but  that  after  confirmation 


150       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

the  responsibility  falls  upon  oneself.  If  that  were 
true,  it  might  be  better  to  go  through  life  uncon- 
firmed. But  we  cannot  escape  responsibility  so 
lightly.  We  are  in  any  case  responsible  before 
God  for  keeping  the  vows  that  were  made  in  our 
name  at  our  Baptism,  just  as  we  are  responsible 
for  observing  the  ordinary  decencies  of  life  and 
for  performing  the  duties  of  American  citizen- 
ship. It  is  true  that  we  are  not  consulted  when 
we  were  taken  to  the  Font  and  born  again  as  chil- 
dren of  God;  but  neither  were  we  consulted  when 
we  were  brought  into  the  world,  nor  when  we 
were  born  as  Americans  rather  than  as  Chinese 
or  South  Sea  Islanders.  Confirmation  does  not 
put  upon  us  any  responsibility  which  was  not 
there  before;  it  simply  gives  us  additional  spirit- 
ual strength  to  enable  us  to  meet  the  increasing 
power  of  temptation  and  to  be  true  to  the  vows  of 
our  Baptism. 

It  is  true  that  in  Confirmation  we  do  renew  the 
vows  of  our  Baptism;  we  do  with  our  "own 
mouth  and  consent,  openly  before  the  Church, 
ratify  and  confirm  the  same."  But  a  child  does 
the  same  thing  every  time  he  repeats  the  answer 
in  the  Catechism,  *'  Yes,  verily;  and  by  God's  help 
so  I  will."  The  ratifying  and  confirming  of  one's 
baptismal  vows  is  not  the  essential  thing  in  Con- 
firmation, nor  does  it  give  the  sacrament  its  name. 


CONFIRMATION  15 1 

Children  do  not  confirm  themselves.  They  come 
to  be  confirmed  (or  strengthened)  by  the  Bishop. 
It  would  really  be  absurd  to  ask  a  busy  adminis- 
trator like  the  Bishop  to  visit  a  church  once  a  year 
simply  to  hear  some  children  and  grown  people 
renew  their  Baptismal  vows, —  which  they  do 
whenever  they  recite  the  Catechism.  No,  the  re- 
newal of  vows  is  merely  a  preliminary  to  the  great 
act  for  which  the  Bishop  came  to  the  church,  the 
laying  on  of  his  hands  that  they  might  receive 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Before  he  does  that,  it  is  nec- 
essary that  he  should  know  that  they  are  in  ear- 
nest about  trying  to  live  the  Christian  life,  that 
they  have  really  repented  of  their  sins,  and  fully 
purpose  to  amend  their  lives  in  the  future.  All 
of  this  is  implied  in  the  answer,  "  I  do." 

What  then  is  Confirmation?  Confirmation  is 
a  sacrament, —  not  one  of  the  two  great  sacra- 
ments of  the  Gospel  which  are  "  generally  neces- 
sary for  salvation,"  but  one  of  the  five  "  com- 
monly called  sacraments," —  an  outward  and  visi- 
ble sign  of  an  inward  and  spiritual  grace.  The 
outward  and  visible  sign  is  the  laying  on  of  the 
Bishop's  hands,  accompanied  by  the  suitable  form 
of  prayer,  which  in  our  Prayer  Book  contains  the 
words,  "  Strengthen  them,  we  beseech  thee,  O 
Lord,  with  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Comforter,  and 
daily  increase  in  them  thy  manifold  gifts  of  grace : 


152       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

the  Spirit  of  wisdom  and  understanding,  the  spirit 
of  counsel  and  ghostly  strength,  the  spirit  of 
knowledge  and  true  godliness;  and  fill  them,  O 
Lord,  with  the  spirit  of  thy  holy  fear."  The  in- 
ward and  spiritual  grace  is  the  coming  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  into  the  soul  with  all  His  strengthening 
power. 

The  Holy  Spirit  came  to  us  in  our  Baptism  to 
give  us  life.  In  Confirmation  He  comes  to  give 
us  strength,  to  round  out  the  perfect  development 
of  our  spiritual  manhood.  But  here  we  must  be 
careful  not  to  fall  into  the  error  that  Confirmation 
is  the  completion  of  Baptism.  Baptism  is  com- 
plete in  itself, —  a  spiritual  birth, —  just  as  the 
birth  of  a  child  is  complete  even  though  the  child 
dies  in  infancy.  Baptism  is  the  sacrament  of 
spiritual  birth.  Confirmation  is  the  sacrament  of 
completed  spiritual  manhood.  It  is  necessary 
now,  just  as  it  was  necessary  in  the  first  age  of  the 
Church.  It  was  not  enough  that  the  Samaritans 
should  be  converted  and  baptized  through  the 
preaching  of  S.  Philip  the  Deacon;  the  Apostles 
at  once  sent  down  from  Jerusalem  S.  Peter  and  S. 
John  to  administer  the  sacrament  of  Confirmation. 
When  they  were  come,  they  "  prayed  for  them, 
that  they  might  receive  the  Holy  Ghost.  .  .  . 
Then  laid  they  their  hands  upon  them,  and  they 


CONFIRMATION  153 

received  the  ./loly  Ghost."  That  is  precisely  what 
happens  wh  .1  a  Bishop  visits  one  of  our  churches 
for  Confirn .  tion.  He  prays  for  them  that  they 
may  be  str  .gthened  with  the  Holy  Ghost  the 
Comforter;  and  then  he  lays  his  hands  upon  them, 
and  they  receive  the  Holy  Ghost. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  beautifully  simple 
and  impressive  ceremony  which  the  Prayer  Book 
provides  for  Confirmation  should  so  often  be  al- 
most buried  by  a  long  and  elaborate  service  with 
many  hymns,  and  often  by  two  long  addresses 
from  the  Bishop.  The  Veni  Creator  might  well 
be  sung  during  the  laying  on  of  hands.  This  is 
a  widespread  custom  and  adds  greatly  to  the  im- 
pressiveness  and  dignity  of  the  office.  But  there 
is  no  reason  why  there  should  be  other  hymns, 
or  why  the  ch,,'  should  take  this  opportunity  to 
render  a  long  and  elaborate  anthem.  The  Prayer 
Book  does  not  -iay  that  the  Bishop  should  preach 
on  this  occasion, —  much  less  that  he  should  give 
a  long  and  scholarly  discourse  which  is  above  the 
heads  of  all  the  children  who  have  been  confirmed. 
Neither  is  it  necessary  that  he  should  instruct 
them  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  Communion  or  of 
Confirmation.  If  they  have  been  properly  pre- 
pared this  is  superfluous ;  if  not,  it  would  probably 
be  too  little.     He  might  make  a  short  personal 


154       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

appeal  to  the  class  to  be  loyal  to  their  ideals,  and 
it  would  have  great  force.  But  otherwise,  the 
Prayer  Book  provides  just  what  the  occasion  de- 
mands. 


XIV 
THE  AGE  FOR  CONFIRMATION 

now  old  ought  children  to  be  when  they  are 
confirmed?  Most  people  perhaps  would 
answer  this  question  by  telling  how  old  they  them- 
selves were  when  they  were  confirmed, —  as  if  that 
proved  anything.  Others  would  turn  to  psychol- 
ogists and  educators  for  an  answer,  and  ask  them 
what  is  the  age  of  decision  in  a  child's  life.  That 
certainly  has  a  more  plausible  sound.  Still  others 
would  submit  the  question  to  their  rector  or 
bishop;  and  when  we  bear  in  mind  the  scriptural 
injunction,  "  Obey  them  that  have  the  rule  over 
you,"  this  would  seem  to  be  the  best  method  of 
all  for  getting  an  answer  to  our  question.  But 
for  a  Prayer  Book  Churchman  none  of  these  ways 
are  right:  for  the  only  right  way  is  to  go  to  the 
Prayer  Book  and  find  out  what  the  Church  therein 
authoritatively  sets  forth  to  be  the  proper  age  for 
Confirmation. 

We  may  well  rejoice  to  find  that  the  Church 
has  the  wisdom  not  to  set  any  artificial  age  limit 
as  the  proper  time  for  Confirmation.     It  would 

iSS 


156      THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

be  as  sensible  to  say  that  all  children  must  attain 
to  a  certain  height  or  a  certain  weight  before  they 
can  be  confirmed,  as  to  say  they  must  have  had 
a  certain  number  of  birthdays.  What  the  Prayer 
Book  does  say  is  that  Confirmation  is  for  "  those 
who  are  baptized,  and  come  to  years  of  discre- 
tion." In  the  address  to  the  Sponsors  after  an 
infant  has  been  baptized,  the  Prayer  Book  gives 
this  direction :  "  Ye  are  to  take  care  that  this 
child  be  brought  to  the  Bishop  to  be  confirmed  by 
him,  so  soon  as  he  can  say  the  Creed,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  is  suffi- 
ciently instructed  in  the  other  parts  of  the  Church 
Catechism  set  forth  for  that  purpose."  This 
might  be  the  case  with  some  children  when  they 
are  ten  years  old,  and  with  others  when  they  are 
fourteen.  The  Church  appears  to  teach  that  chil- 
dren come  to  "  years  of  discretion  "  when  they 
begin  to  know  the  difference  between  right  and 
wrong,  and  the  meaning  of  temptation. 

May  we  not  say  therefore  that  bishops  and 
priests  are  going  quite  beyond  their  rights  when 
they  declare,  as  some  of  them  do,  that  no  children 
are  to  be  confirmed  until  they  have  attained  a 
specified  age?  The  Prayer  Book  represents  the 
authority  of  the  Church  in  this  matter;  and  the 
Prayer  Book  plainly  sets  forth  what  the  Church 
regards  as  the  necessary  requirements  for  Con- 


THE   AGE    FOR   CONFIRMATION  1 5/ 

firmation.  It  nowhere  mentions  a  particular  age 
as  one  of  these  requirements.  Obviously  the  par- 
ish priest  who  presents  the  candidates  to  the 
Bishop  is  the  judge  as  to  whether  those  candidates 
are  duly  qualified  to  receive  the  laying  on  of 
hands.  It  is  difficult  to  see  why  the  Bishop 
should  have  anything  to  say  about  the  matter: 
his  duty  is  simply  to  lay  hands  upon  the  candidates 
presented  to  him. 

It  is  commonly  supposed  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  parish  priest  to  make  a  thorough  canvass  of 
the  parish  and  secure  as  many  candidates  for  his 
confirmation  class  as  possible.  This  however 
is  not  the  intention  of  the  Prayer  Book.  In  the 
Office  for  the  Public  Baptism  of  Infants  the 
Church  exhorts  the  sponsors  "  to  take  care  that 
this  child  be  brought  to  the  Bishop  to  be  confirmed 
by  him,  so  soon  as  he  can  say  the  Creed,  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  and  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  is 
sufficiently  instructed  in  the  other  parts  of  the 
Church-Catechism  set  forth  for  that  purpose." 
Ideally  therefore  the  parents  and  sponsors  should 
bring  the  child,  while  he  is  yet  of  tender  age,  and 
put  him  into  the  hands  of  the  priest  in  order  that 
the  priest  may  present  him  to  the  Bishop.  This 
is  very  different  from  the  common  practice  of 
waiting  until  the  child  has  reached  the  difficult 
years  of  advanced  adolescence;  and  then  pleading 


158       THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

with  him,  and  coaxing  him,  and  wrestling  with 
him,  in  the  forlorn  hope  that  he  may  consent  to 
join  the  confirmation  class. 

So  far  as  preparation  for  Confirmation  is 
concerned,  the  Prayer  Book  has  little  to  say. 
It  simply  insists  that  the  candidates  should  be 
baptized,  should  be  in  a  state  of  grace,  and 
should  have  learned  the  Church  Catechism.  The 
subtitle  of  the  Catechism  is  as  follows :  "  An 
instruction,  to  be  learned  by  every  person  be- 
fore he  be  brought  to  be  confirmed  by  the 
Bishop."  The  Prayer  Book  makes  no  provision 
for  a  class  of  elaborate  instruction  in  Church 
doctrine,  continuing  for  many  weeks.  No  doubt 
such  instruction  is  most  desirable  and  necessary 
for  such  adults  as  have  been  prevented  by 
Protestantism  or  unbelief  from  being  confirmed 
at  an  earlier  age.  But  the  point  I  am  now 
insisting  upon  is  that  for  children  the  Church 
ideal  is  a  life-long  instruction  in  the  Catechism 
by  their  parents  at  home,  supplemented  by  public 
catechising  by  the  parish  priest  in  church.  We 
have  departed  a  long  way  from  that  ideal. 

That  the  Church  lays  great  stress  upon  the 
spiritual  state  of  the  child  or  adult  who  is  about 
to  be  confirmed  is  clear  from  the  prayer  the  Bishop 
is  directed  to  use  in  the  Confirmation  Office  just 
before  the  laying  on  of  hands.     These  words 


THE   AGE    FOR    CONFIRMATION  1 59 

particularly  are  of  great  significance :  "  Al- 
mighty and  everliving  God,  who  hast  vouchsafed 
to  regenerate  these  thy  servants  by  Water  and  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  hast  given  unto  them  forgiveness 
of  all  their  sins;  Strengthen  them,  we  beseech 
Thee,  O  Lord,  with  the  Holy  Ghost  the  Com- 
forter." These  words  imply  of  course  that  they 
have  already  been  baptized.  That  is  plain  on  the 
face  of  it.  But  they  also  imply  that  they  have 
been  absolved  from  all  sins  which  they  may  have 
committed  since  their  Baptism.  In  the  mind  of 
the  Church  therefore  it  is  most  essential  that 
before  one  is  confirmed,  all  obstacles  of  sin  must 
be  removed  from  the  soul,  in  order  that  the  seven- 
fold gifts  of  the  Spirit  may  have  full  sway. 

At  the  present  time,  in  our  preparation  of 
children  for  Confirmation,  we  are  inclined  to  lay 
too  much  stress  on  the  intellectual  side  of  religion 
and  too  little  on  the  spiritual  side.  The  result  is 
that  many  children  have  come  to  regard  Con- 
firmation as  the  completion  of  their  religious 
education,  corresponding  to  commencement  exer- 
cises in  the  grammar  school, —  with  which  indeed 
it  often  synchronizes.  In  consequence  they  not 
only  drop  out  of  the  Sunday  School  but  they 
often  fall  away  from  the  Church  entirely.  This 
is  particularly  true  of  children  who  have  been 
brought    up    under    the    influence   of   Lutheran 


l60       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

traditions.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the 
future  well-being  of  the  Church  that  we  should 
teach  our  children  to  regard  Confirmation  as  a 
most  opportune  gift  of  Divine  grace  which  is 
giv^en  to  them  at  the  precise  time  when  they  begin 
to  feel  the  power  of  temptation. 

A  priest  once  told  a  boy  of  about  the  age  of 
twelve  that  he  was  old  enough  to  be  confirmed. 
The  boy  said  he  would  ask  his  father  if  he  would 
give  his  permission.  The  father  told  the  boy 
that  it  would  be  better  to  wait  a  few  years  until 
after  he  had  had  his  good  time !  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  this  is  altogether  too  common  an  attitude 
among  American  fathers.  May  we  not  teach 
them  to  adopt  as  their  ideal  what  Bishop  Jeremy 
Taylor  lays  down  as  the  rule  "  which  the  Church 
of  England  and  Ireland  follows,  that  after  infancy 
but  yet  before  they  understand  too  much  of  sin, 
and  when  they  can  competently  understand  the 
fundamentals  of  religion,  then  it  is  good  to  bring 
them  to  be  confirmed,  that  the  Spirit  of  God  may 
prevent  their  youthful  lusts,  and  that  Christ  by 
His  word  and  by  His  spirit  may  enter  and  take 
possession  at  the  same  time  "  ? 


XV 

THE  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  CON- 
FIRMED AND  UNCONFIRMED 

I\TAN  who  had  been  brought  up  a  Presby- 
terian, but  had  for  some  time  attended  the 
services  of  the  Episcopal  Church  with  his  wife, 
went  with  her  to  an  early  communion  service  on 
Christmas.  It  was  the  first  time  he  had  been  to 
an  early  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion ;  and 
Avhen  the  time  came  for  the  people  to  go  to  the 
altar  rail  to  receive  the  Blessed  Sacrament,  he 
arose  to  go  forward  with  his  wife.  He  was 
much  astonished  and  somewhat  hurt  to  be  told  by 
her  that  he  could  not  receive  because  he  had  never 
been  confirmed :  especially  as  he  had  been  in  other 
Episcopal  Churches  when  all  those  present  were 
invited  to  come  forward  and  receive  the  Sacra- 
ment. 

Now  one  cannot  but  feel  a  certain  sympathy  for 
this  man.  He  was  a  devout  Christian,  according 
to  his  light;  and  an  eminently  respectable  and 
decent   member   of   society.     Why  was  he  not 

i6i 


1 62       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

quite  as  fit  to  receive  Holy  Communion  as  the 
Other  men  in  the  congregation?  Or  if  he  was  as 
fit,  why  was  he  barred  out  ? 

The  answer  is  suppHed  by  a  simple  and  clear-cut 
provision  in  the  Prayer  Book.  At  the  end  of  the 
office  for  Confirmation  there  is  a  rubric  which 
says :  "  There  shall  none  be  admitted  to  the 
Holy  Communion  until  such  time  as  he  be  con- 
firmed, or  be  ready  and  desirous  to  be  confirmed." 
This  does  not  mean  that  readiness  and  desire  for 
Confirmation  in  themselves  constitute  a  ground 
for  admission  to  Holy  Communion.  It  is  in- 
tended merely  to  provide  for  extraordinary  cases, 
as  when  a  person  is  dying.  Bishop  Wheatly,  in 
commenting  on  this  rubric  says,  "  This  is  exactly 
conformable  to  the  practice  of  the  Primitive 
Church,  which  always  ordered  that  Confirmation 
should  precede  the  Eucharist,  except  when  there 
was  extraordinary  cause  to  the  contrary :  such  as 
was  the  case  of  CHnical  Baptism,  or  the  absence 
of  a  Bishop,  or  the  like;  in  which  cases  the  Eu- 
charist is  allowed  before  Confirmation." 

But  there  are  clergy  in  the  Church  who  invite 
all  Christians  to  receive  the  Blessed  Sacrament, 
whether  they  have  been  confirmed  or  not.  How 
do  they  justify  their  action,  in  view  of  the  above 
rubric  ?  They  say  it  is  simply  a  rule  the  Church 
has  adopted  for  her  own  children,  for  such  as 


THE    CONFIRMED   AND   UNCONFIRMED       163 

have  been  baptized  and  trained  in  the  Church. 
Furthermore  they  say  that  the  real  mind  of  the 
Church  is  expressed  in  the  Invitation,  "  Ye  who 
do  truly  and  earnestly  repent  you  of  your  sins, 
and  are  in  love  and  charity  with  your  neighbours, 
and  intend  to  lead  a  new  life,  following  the  com- 
mandments of  God,  and  walking  from  henceforth 
in  His  holy  ways;  draw  near  with  faith,  and 
take  this  holy  Sacrament  to  your  comfort." 
Here  nothing  is  said  about  the  necessity  of  being 
confirmed.  But,  it  may  be  asked  in  reply,  why 
should  we  interpret  the  former  statement  as 
applying  only  to  the  Church's  own  children,  and 
not  the  latter  ?  Surely  it  is  reasonable  to  assume 
that  the  Church  in  this  invitation  is  addressing 
those  who  have  conformed  to  the  Church's  rules 
elsewhere  set  forth,  and  therefore  have  been  duly 
baptized  and  confirmed. 

It  would  be  preposterous  if  outsiders,  "whose 
Baptism,  if  valid,  is  irregular,  and  whose  teaching 
has  been  defective,  were  to  be  granted  admission 
to  the  full  privileges  and  the  holiest  mysteries  of 
the  Church,  with  less  preparation  than  those  who 
have  been  trained  in  her  ways,"     (Bishop  Hall.) 

No  one  would  object  if  he  were  barred  out  of 
the  innermost  sanctuary  of  a  lodge  until  he  had 
taken  the  requisite  degrees  of  initiation,  A  man 
who  has  just  entered  the  Masonic  Order  does  not 


164       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

expect  to  have  all  the  privileges  of  a  thirty-second 
degree  Mason. 

Granted  then  that  it  is  the  law  of  the  Church 
that  none  can  be  admitted  to  the  Holy  Com- 
munion until  they  have  been  confirmed,  let  us  try 
to  see  why  that  should  be  the  law  of  the  Church. 

By  Confirmation,  those  who  have  attained  to 
years  of  discretion,  having  renewed  their  bap- 
tismal vows  and  given  evidence  of  faith  and 
repentance,  are  fully  equipped  for  the  Christian 
life  by  the  Seven-fold  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
A  real  influx  of  Divine  grace  is  accomplished 
through  the  layin;  .x^^  of  the  Bishop's  hands, 
Certainly  the  Church  i?"not  asking  too  much  when 
she  ordinarily  requires  this  full  spiritual  equip- 
ment as  a  preliminary  condition  for  receiving 
Holy  Communion, 

Furthermore,  in  the  present  condition  of 
Christendom,  when  many  of  our  fellow  Chris- 
tians, who  have  been  brought  up  with  defective 
views  of  the  sacrament  of  Holy  Communion, — 
or  with  no  views  at  all, —  may  be  in  the  congrega- 
tion when  the  Eucharist  is  celebrated,  it  would  be 
very  dangerous  to  invite  them  all  to  receive  the 
Sacrament.  There  would  be  danger  of  causing 
irreparable  spiritual  damage  to  their  souls.  S. 
Paul  has  warned  us  of  the  danger  of  receiving 
the    Sacrament   without   discernment.     (I    Cor. 


THE    CONFIRMED   AND   UNCONFIRMED       165 

XI,  28-30.)  ''  Let  a  man  examine  himself,  and 
so  let  him  eat  of  that  bread  and  drink  of  that  cup. 
For  he  that  eateth  and  drinketh  unworthily,  eateth 
and  drinketh  damnation  to  himself,  not  discerning 
the  Lord's  body.  For  this  cause  many  are  weak 
and  sickly  among  you  and  many  sleep." 

The  Church  is  surely  right  in  demanding  that 
both  those  whom  she  has  brought  up  from 
infancy,  and  those  who  have  been  nursed  and 
trained  by  other  systems  of  religion  should  alike 
be  fully  instructed  in  the  Church's  doctrine  of  the 
sacraments,—  to  say  nothing  of  the  spiritual  gifts 
received  in  Confirmation,—  before  they  are  per- 
mitted to  partake  of  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ. 

The  classes  of  instruction  in  preparation  for 
Confirmation  are  quite  as  much  classes  for  in- 
struction in  preparation  for  First  Communion. 
In  fact  the  members  of  such  classes  should 
be  instructed  in  the  whole  doctrine  of  the 
Church  relating  to  matters  both  of  faith  and 
practice.  The  members  of  Protestant  denomi- 
nations, who  fail  to  see  the  need  of  their  be- 
ing confirmed,  are  probably  assuming  that  they 
have  long  been  receiving  the  same  sacraments 
which  the  Church  now  refuses  to  them,  and  that 
they  were  confirmed  when  they  joined  their 
particular  denominations.     Both  of  these  assump- 


1 66       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

tions  are  mistaken.  The  Protestant  denomi- 
nations have  thrown  over  the  priesthood ;  and  they 
have  no  intention  of  changing  the  bread  and  wine 
in  the  Lord's  Supper  into  the  Body  and  Blood  of 
Christ.  Their  Lord's  Supper  therefore  cannot 
be  the  same  as  the  Holy  Communion  of  the  Prayer 
Book  rite.  As  for  Confirmation,  the  essential 
element  therein  is  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of 
a  Bishop  or  an  Apostle;  and  as  the  Protestant 
denominations  have  also  dispensed  with  the  his- 
toric Episcopate,  their  ceremony  of  "  joining  the 
Church  "  cannot  be  the  same  thing  as  Confir- 
mation. 

The  Church  then  plainly  teaches  in  the  Prayer 
Book  that  there  is  a  difference  between  confirmed 
and  unconfirmed  persons.  That  is  why  she 
refuses  Holy  Communion  to  those  who  are  uncon- 
firmed. The  difference  is  not  that  confirmed 
persons  are  any  better  morally  than  unconfirmed 
persons.  Some  confirmed  persons  may  easily 
be  on  a  very  much  lower  plane  than  some  of  those 
who  are  unconfirmed.  The  difference  is  simply 
that  those  who  have  been  confirmed  have  been 
given  by  the  Holy  Ghost  a  better  spiritual  equip- 
ment than  they  had  before.  This  of  course 
ought  to  result  in  their  becoming  morally  supe- 
rior, not  to  other  people,  but  to  what  they  them- 


THE    CONFIRMED   AND   UNCONFIRMED       167 

selves  were  before.  Unfortunately  human  be- 
ings do  not  always  live  as  they  ought  to  live.  If 
they  did,  all  communicants  of  the  Church  would 
be  saints. 


XVI 

THE  MEANING  OF  SIN 

XT  requires  no  deep  or  prolonged  study 
of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  to  convince 
us  that  its  offices  are  intended  to  deal  with  sin. 
Sin,  it  is  felt,  is  the  great  disaster  separat- 
ing the  soul  from  God.  The  danger  of  sin,  its 
nature  and  its  remedy,  is  pointed  out  again 
and  again,  and  the  members  of  the  Church  are 
exhorted  to  avail  themselves  of  God's  mercy 
whether  in  the  way  of  forgiveness  for  the  sins 
of  the  past,  or  as  aid  and  strength  against  the 
assaults  of  sin  in  the  future.  The  Sponsors  of 
the  child  to  be  baptized  are  told  that  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  "  hath  promised  in  His  Gospel "  to 
release  the  child  from  sin;  and  after  the  baptism 
when  the  child  is  declared  to  be  "  regenerate  " 
thanks  are  given  for  the  gift  and  prayer  is  made 
that  he  "  being  dead  unto  sin  "  may  live  the  new 
life  of  the  regenerate.  Later,  in  the  Confirma- 
tion Office,  the  bishop  referring  to  this  fact,  prays 
that  those  whom  God  has  regenerated,  and  to 
whom  He  has  given  *'  forgiveness  of  all  their 

i68 


THE    MEANING   OF   SIN  169 

sins  "  may  now  be  strengthened  with  "  the  Holy 
Ghost,  the  Comforter."  The  daily  offices  of 
Morning  and  Evening  Prayer  provide  in  the 
General  Confession  and  Absolutions  forms  for 
the  acknowledgment  of  sinfulness  and  the  assur- 
ance of  God's  willingness  to  receive  the  sinner 
who  repents.  This  form  is  repeated  in  the  Com- 
munion Office,  and  while  it  is  not  sacramental, 
that  is,  does  not  convey  the  grace  of  pardon,  it  is 
of  comfort  to  those  who  do  ''  truly  and  earnestly 
repent  "  as  bringing  to  them  the  offer  of  accept- 
ance by  God  whenever  they  do  truly  repent.  The 
meaning  of  repentance  is  the  message  of  the  Ex- 
hortations which  are  from  time  to  time  read  as  a 
warning  and  stimulus  to  those  who  are  lax  in 
making  their  communions.  One  of  the  long  ex- 
hortations points  those  who  are  unable  to  quiet 
their  own  consciences,  that  is,  those  who  are 
in  mortal  sin,  to  the  *'  minister  of  God's  Word  " 
as  an  aid  to  the  "  quieting  of  his  conscience,  and 
the  removing  of  all  scruple  and  doubtfulness." 
This  is  softened  from  the  English  Book  which 
plainly  says  that  the  reason  of  his  coming  is  that 
by  **  the  Ministry  of  God's  holy  Word  he  may 
receive  the  benefit  of  Absolution."  In  the  Office 
for  the  Visitation  of  Prisoners  the  prisoner  is 
exhorted  to  repentance  and  told,  "  except  you  re- 
pent, and  believe,  we  can  give  you  no  hope  of 


170       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

salvation."  Repentance  is  also  urged  upon  the 
sick  person,  in  the  Office  for  the  Visitation  of  the 
Sick.  There  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  serious- 
ness of  the  Church's  thought  about  sin  and  its 
danger. 

It  may  seem  unnecessary  to  stress  such  obvious 
facts ;  but  the  truth  is  that  to-day  there  is  a  grow- 
ing restlessness  under  the  Church's  teaching  about 
sin.  The  movement  of  "  Hberal  thought  "  is  eas- 
ily followed ;  it  has  moved  steadily  during  the  last 
century.  There  was  first  an  attack  on  the  per- 
sonality of  the  devil,  and  it  was  insisted  that  what 
the  Gospel  meant  by  the  devil  was  not  a  person 
at  all  but  an  evil  influence;  in  any  case,  whatever 
the  Gospel  taught,  that  was  all  that  an  enlight- 
ened person  could  believe.  The  next  step  was 
the  denial  of  eternal  punishment.  The  Gospel 
seemed  explicit  enough  about  this,  but  again,  it 
was  explained  that  we  were  quite  mistaken  in 
our  understanding  of  it.  That  in  any  case,  the 
most  the  modern  man  could  believe  in  was  some 
sort  of  temporary  discipline  after  death;  so,  for 
the  liberal  man,  hell  followed  its  lord  the  devil 
into  the  realm  of  exploded  superstitions.  To- 
day, we  have  moved  forward  another  stage  and 
the  present  attack  is  on  sin.  The  modern  mind 
is  prepared  to  grant  —  temporarily,  at  least  — 
that  man  is  imperfect,  but  it  does  not  see  its  way 


THE    MEANING    OF    SIN  I7I 

to  granting  more  than  this;  and  it  cannot  conceive 
of  this  imperfection  as  entaihng  disastrous  spir- 
itual consequences  in  another  sphere  of  existence. 

This  teaching,  or  at  least  most  features  of  it,  is 
rather  widely  preached  to-day,  and  therefore  it 
is  well  to  be  clear  that  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  holds  quite  another  doctrine  about  sin. 
It  still  holds  the  doctrine  of  sin  which  has  been 
the  teaching  of  the  Church  from  the  Apostles' 
days  onward.  We  are  not  here  concerned  to  de- 
fend it;  we  are  only  concerned  to  state  it  as  the 
teaching  of  the  formularies  of  the  Church  to 
which  we  belong. 

Traditional  Christianity  teaches  that  sin  is  law^ 
lessness.  It  is  deliberate  violation  of  the  known 
will  of  God,  and,  as  such,  carries  with  it  spiritual 
consequences.  The  effect  of  baptism  is  to  cleanse 
the  soul  and  to  bring  it  into  union  with  God ;  to 
make  the  baptized  person,  in  S.  Peter's  words, 
"  a  partaker  of  the  divine  nature."  The  union  of 
man  with  God  in  Christ  lasts  as  long  as  the  man 
wills  it  to  last;  until,  that  is,  he  breaks  the  union 
by  his  own  deliberate  act  by  which  he  sets  himself 
against  the  will  of  God. 

The  sin  which  attacks  this  union  may  be  of 
various  degrees  of  intensity,  and  is  described  by 
theologians  with  reference  to  this  intensity  as 
mortal  or  venial  sin.     It  is  to  be  remembered  that 


172       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

such  classification  is  ideal,  and  that  what  is  easily 
described  on  paper  is  not  always  easy  to  be  dis- 
guished  in  life.  Yet  speaking  broadly,  there  is 
not  very  much  difficulty  in  judging  of  the 
nature  of  our  sins,  except  certain  that  lie  on  the 
border  line. 

A  mortal  sin  is  one  that  puts  the  soul  in  a  state 
of  spiritual  death,  that  is,  that  destroys  the  union 
that  there  is  between  the  soul  and  God.  Such  a 
sin,  therefore,  must  be,  in  technical  language, 
grave  matter;  that  is  the  act  must  be  some- 
thing of  great  importance.  It  is  obvious  that 
if  I  am  irritated  at  the  interruption  of  my  work 
by,  let  us  say,  the  telephone  ringing,  that  is  sin, 
but  it  is  not  a  grave  matter.  If,  however,  I 
am  so  annoyed  by  some  occurrence  that  I  strike 
and  injure  a  person,  that  is  grave  matter.  If  a 
child  steals  a  handful  of  peanuts  from  a  fruit 
stand  that  cannot  be  grave  matter;  but  if  a  man 
breaks  into  a  house  and  steals,  that  certainly  is. 
That,  then,  is  the  first  mark  of  mortal  sin,  that  it 
is  grave  matter. 

The  second  is  that  the  sin  be  committed  with 
full  knowledge  of  the  nature  of  the  act.  Under 
the  present  educational  dispensation  in  Church 
and  State  there  is  a  very  widespread  ignorance  of 
sin.  There  is  no  doubt  a  good  deal  of  violation 
of  God's  will  which  is  quite  unintentional;  that 


THE    MEANING   OF   SIN  I73 

is,  it  is  the  result  of  ignorance  and  not  of  malice. 
Where  there  is  not  knowledge  there  is  not  re- 
sponsibility —  except  the  responsibility  to  know, 
which  should  always  be  taken  into  account. 
There  appears  to  be  a  very  widespread  ignorance 
in  the  Church  as  to  the  obligation  to  be  present 
at  a  celebration  of  the  Holy  Communion  on  Sun- 
days and  Holy  Days.  A  child  is  usually  ignorant 
of  some  of  the  responsibilities  of  its  state  of  life. 
Now,  when  an  act  is  committed  which  is  mate- 
rially mortal  sin,  and  the  person  who  commits  it 
is  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  act  and  of  its 
relation  to  God's  will,  the  act  cannot  be  formally 
mortal  sin,  that  is,  it  cannot  have  the  full  effect 
of  mortal  sin  on  the  relation  of  the  soul  to  God. 
It  is  quite  possible  under  present  conditions  for 
persons  to  contract  matrimony  within  the  forbid- 
den degrees  and  so  to  live  in  material  sin  without 
knowledge  of  the  fact.  This  of  course  would  not 
be  formal  sin. 

The  third  mark  of  mortal  sin  is  that  it  should 
be  committed  intentionally,  with  full  consent  of 
the  will.  In  the  last  illustration,  of  marriage 
within  the  forbidden  degrees,  there  is  lack  of  in- 
tention to  sin  as  well  as  lack  of  knowledge.  So 
long  as  one  does  not  intend  to  break  the  law  of 
God  with  full  knowledge  that  it  is  God's  law  one 
cannot  be  held  to  have  sinned  mortally. 


174      THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Venial  sin  is  sin  that  while  failing  in  one  or  the 
Other  of  the  above  notes  of  mortal  sin  is  still  in 
conscious  violation  of  the  will  of  God.  Perhaps 
our  most  frequent  failure  is  in  this  matter.  Most 
of  our  sins  are  about  trivial  things;  pride,  anger, 
covetousness  and  the  rest  do  have  some  hold  upon 
our  lives  and  do  manifest  themselves  there,  but 
not  in  any  very  grievous  way,  not  in  a  way  that 
we  should  call  grave  matter.  There  are  other 
sins  which  we  commit  with  partial  knowledge; 
we  suspect  that  we  ought  not  to  do  them  but 
we  have  never  completely  informed  ourselves. 
There  are  still  other  acts  which  are  done  because 
we  are  not  watchful  or  careful  —  sins  of  inad- 
vertence, of  surprise,  of  carelessness. 

I  am  afraid  that  it  is  rather  the  fashion  to  think 
lightly  of  venial  sin.  But  in  fact,  in  the  case  of 
Christians  who  are  at  all  in  earnest  about  the 
spiritual  life,  venial  sin  is  the  real  and  besetting 
danger.  Earnest  Christians  rarely  fall  into  mor- 
tal sin;  if  the  temptation  to  mortal  sin  presents  it- 
self they  are  under  no  illusion  as  to  its  nature 
and  meaning,  and  resist  accordingly.  Even  if 
they  fall,  the  very  greatness  of  the  fall  sends  them 
to  repentance.  But  the  constant  daily  tempta- 
tions, the  perpetual  opportunity  of  petty  sins, — 
these  are  the  spiritual  danger  of  earnest  Chris- 
tians.    They  do  not  kill  the  soul  ?     That  is  true ; 


THE    MEANING   OF   SIN  I75 

but  they  do  reduce  the  spiritual  vitality,  they  do 
keep  the  spiritual  life  at  a  low  ebb.  If  one  were 
to  ask,  Why  do  not  *'  good  people  "  make  more 
progress  in  the  spiritual  life?  I  think  the  answer 
would  be  quite  ready  at  hand  —  tolerated  venial 
sin.  So  long  as  we  are  content  to  live  at  close 
quarters  with  all  sorts  of  petty  violations  of  the 
will  of  God,  excusing  ourselves  on  the  ground 
that  they  are  not  of  much  importance,  we  cannot 
expect  to  advance  in  the  spiritual  hfe.  Hence,  I 
take  it,  the  reiterated  exhortations  in  the  Prayer 
Book  to  acknowledge  and  confess  our  sins. 

What  is  the  penalty  of  sin?  "  The  penalty  of 
sin  is  to  be  a  sinner."  It  is  a  great  misfortune 
that  most  of  our  words  describing  sin  and  its 
outcome  are  words  derived  from  legal  process. 
This  at  once  injects  into  the  description  of  the  re- 
lation of  the  sinner  to  God  the  notion  of  a  possi- 
ble arbitrariness  in  God's  dealing  with  us.  The 
average  man  appears  to  think  that  the  Christian 
teaching  is  that  God  forgives  or  punishes  sin  just 
as  He  feels  at  the  moment;  that  when  He  pun- 
ishes He  might  just  as  well  pardon  if  He  wanted 
to  —  or  vice  versa.  That  can  only  be  because  we 
conceive  both  punishment  and  forgiveness  as  ar- 
bitrary, that  is,  as  having  no  meaning  in  connec- 
tion with  the  sin  itself.  But  if  we  try  to  think  it 
out,  that  is  quite  inconceivable.     A  sin  is  an  act 


176       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

having  a  certain  reaction  on  the  relation  of  our 
soul  to  God.  It  may  injure  that  relation  (venial 
sin)  or  it  may  destroy  it  (mortal  sin)  ;  but  in 
either  case  the  outcome  is  not  a  punishment  in- 
flicted but  a  result  that  follows.  There  is  no 
other  punishment  than  that  involved  in  the  sin 
itself.  Hell  is  the  state  of  being  in  mortal  sin, 
that  is,  of  being  excluded  from  the  presence  of 
God.  God  does  not  sentence  any  one  to  hell ;  the 
man  who  dies  in  mortal  sin,  dies  with  a  destroyed 
spiritual  capacity  and  therefore  incapable  of  the 
Beatific  Vision.  The  divine  love  always  does 
what  it  can  to  win  man  from  sin,  but  it  cannot 
force  men  to  give  up  sin.  If  man  loves  sin  rather 
than  God,  that  is  the  right  of  his  free  will.  But 
the  life  and  death  of  our  Lord  is  the  constant 
proclamation  of  the  love  of  God  for  sinners,  the 
proclaiming  of  the  Cross  the  constant  summons 
of  the  children  to  the  Father.  More  than  invite, 
not  even  God  can  do. 


XVII 
THE  REMISSION  OF  SIN 

CHE  New  Testament  has  a  good  deal  to  say 
about  sin  and  its  effect  on  the  relation  of 
man  to  God.  One  of  the  most  wonderful  things 
about  the  revelation  of  God  in  Christ,  is  the  reve- 
lation of  the  divine  attitude  toward  the  sinner. 
"  While  we  were  yet  sinners  Christ  died  for 
us."  Christ  came  to  "  put  away  sin."  In  fact 
the  life  and  death  of  our  Lord  are  shown  as  an 
effort  on  God's  part  to  overcome  sin  and  death. 
The  willingness  of  God  to  forgive  is  at  the  cen- 
ter of  the  Christian  Revelation. 

As  we  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapter,  the 
Prayer  Book  simply  echoes  the  biblical  language 
about  sin.  It  warns  continually  of  the  dangers 
of  sin  and  warns  the  members  of  the  Church  to 
deal  with  it  seriously,  especially  when  they  are 
preparing  to  approach  the  sacraments. 

Now  we  can  imagine  some  one  coming  fresh 
to  this  teaching  and  saying,  "  I  see  the  truth  of 
what  the  New  Testament  and  the  Prayer  Book 
say  about  sin;  I  acknowledge  my  own  selfishness 

177 


178       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

and  need  of  forgiveness;  I  believe  that  I  am  truly 
repentant;  what  then  am  I  to  do  to  obtain  for- 
giveness? "  You  remember  that  this  is  the  ques- 
tion that  was  asked  over  and  over  again  in  the 
first  days  of  the  Church,  and  the  answer  was  al- 
ways the  same.  It  was  asked  of  S.  Peter  and  the 
other  Apostles  on  the  first  day  of  Pentecost  when 
after  S.  Peter's  sermon  his  hearers  were  "  pricked 
in  their  heart,  and  said  unto  Peter  and  the  rest 
of  the  Apostles,  Men  and  brethren,  what  shall  we 
do?'*  It  is  asked  of  the  Church  by  every  one 
who  is  converted  to  the  Christian  Faith,  and  the 
answer  is  still  the  same  answer  that  S.  Peter 
made :  *'  Repent  and  be  baptized  every  one  of 
you  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  for  the  remission 
of  sins."  There  are  objectors  who  ask,  "  Why 
be  baptized  ?  Is  it  not  enough  to  repent  ?  God's 
promise  is  to  those  who  repent."  True;  God 
does  promise  remission  of  sins  to  those  who  re- 
pent, and  more  than  that,  He  tells  them  how  to 
obtain  it.  He  promises  forgiveness  and  He  ap- 
points the  instruments  of  it.  The  Church  has  felt 
that  it  is  so  important  that  this  should  be  made 
clear  that  it  has  put  it  in  the  Creed :  "  I  believe 
in  one  baptism  for  the  remission  of  sins."  The 
Church  sets  out  the  conditions  of  baptism,  it  ap- 
points a  form  for  its  administration,  it  sets  apart 
a  minister  to  perform  the  office.     If  any  one  still 


THE    REMISSION    OF   SIN  179 

asks,  "  Can  I  not  be  forgiven  without  baptism  ?  " 
one  can  only  reply  that  when  a  means  of  forgive- 
ness has  been  provided  it  would  seem  pointless  to 
ask  what  might  happen  if  one  did  not  use  it  — 
as  pointless  as  for  one  to  ask  in  a  burning  house, 
whether  one  really  had  to  go  down  the  fire  escape. 
There  are  questions  which  sane  people  do  not  ask! 
We  can  imagine  a  convert  to  Christianity  who 
has   received   baptism   coming  back  to   a  priest 
after  a  little  while  and  saying,  "  I  have  fallen  into 
sin  again;  what  am   I  to   do?"     I   understood 
when  I  was  baptized  that  baptism  could  not  be 
repeated.     But  sin  has  been  repeated.     Is  it  true 
that  there  is  no  farther  forgiveness?"     If  there 
is  no  farther  forgiveness,  the  Gospel  is  surely  not 
so  "Good  News"  as  we  thought  it.     Further- 
more, there  is  nothing  in  the  Gospel  about  a  single 
forgiveness.     There  are  warnings  of  the  danger 
of  post-baptismal  sin;  but  the  teaching  of  Scrip- 
ture is  that  God  will  always  forgive  when  we 
truly  repent.     So  our  answer  is :     "  Yes,  there  is 
always   forgiveness  where  there  is  repentance." 
The  natural  question  of  our  enquirer  will  then 
be:     "  How,  this  time,  am  I  to  get  forgiveness; 
what  is  the  means  provided?     This  is  a  perfectly 
natural  question ;  if  there  was  a  means  provided 
for  the  forgiveness  of  sins  committed  before  bap- 
tism it  is  wholly  to  be  expected  that  there  will  be 


l8o       THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

an  equally  definite  instrument  provided  for  the 
forgiveness  of  sins  committed  after  baptism.  If 
there  is  a  man  appointed  by  God  to  act  for  him 
in  the  one  case,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  there  will 
such  an  one  be  found  in  the  other. 

Let  us  suppose  that  our  enquirer  when  he  has 
fallen  into  post-baptismal  sin,  instead  of  going 
to  a  priest  and  asking  his  questions,  takes  up  his 
Prayer  Book  and  tries  to  find  if  it  has  anything 
pertinent  to  say.  He  will  find  in  the  first  office 
that  he  comes  to  a  statement  that  will  comfort 
him.  The  statement  is  this :  ''  Almighty  God 
.  .  .  hath  given  power,  and  commandment  to  His 
Ministers,  to  declare  and  pronounce  to  his  people, 
the  Absolution  and  Remission  of  their  sins." 
This  *'  absolution  and  remission  "  which  is  "  de- 
clared and  pronounced  "  must  be  a  definite  act  of 
some  sort,  like  the  forgiveness  in  baptism.  But 
when  did  Almighty  God  give  this  ?  Our  enquirer 
did  not  raise  the  question  when  he  was  baptized ; 
but  it  interests  him  now  in  view  of  his  wider  ex- 
perience. When  is  any  such  ministerial  power 
conferred?  He  looks  through  his  Prayer  Book 
till  he  finds  "  the  Form  and  manner  of  Ordering 
Priests  "  and  there  discovers  that  when  a  priest 
is  ordained  by  a  bishop,  the  bishop,  with  the 
priests  present,  lays  his  hand  upon  him  and  says : 
"  Receive  the  Holy  Ghost   for  the   Office  and 


THE    REMISSION   OF  SIN  l8l 

Work  of  a  Priest  in  the  Church  of  God,  now 
committed  unto  thee  by  the  Imposition  of  our 
hands.  Whose  sins  thou  dost  forgive,  they  are 
forgiven;  and  whose  sins  thou  dost  retain,  they 
are  retained."  ^  This  would  seem  to  be  suffi- 
ciently explicit  of  the  intention  of  the  Church  in 
ordination,  and  to  explain  who  is  the  person  com- 
petent to  deal  with  the  matter  of  post-baptismal 
sin.  The  conviction  of  the  enquirer  that  this  is  in 
fact  the  mind  of  the  Church  will  be  strengthened 
when  he  reads  in  the  exhortation  at  the  end  of  the 
Communion  Office  the  direction  that  the  sinner 
who  can  not  quiet  his  own  conscience,  who,  that 
is,  is  in  mortal  sin,  is  to  go  to  some  minister  of 
God's  Word  and  open  his  grief.  Thus  his  duty 
will  become  plain. 

The  statements  in  the  American  Prayer  Book 
have  been  softened  somewhat  from  those  in  the 
English  Prayer  Book;  the  softening  being  in- 
tended, I  fancy,  to  make  the  American  Book  pala- 
table to  the  spiritual  dullness  of  the  Eighteenth 
Century  which  was  apt  to  be  irritated  by  anything 
in  the  nature  of  sacramentalism  —  superstition, 
they  would  have  called  it.  The  English  Book,  in 
the  long  exhortation  in  the  Communion  Service 
tells  the  sinner  who  cannot  quiet  his  own  con- 

1 1  neglect  the  alternate  form  as  being  very  rarely  used, 
and  of  no  different  effect. 


l82       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

science  to  "  come  to  me,  or  to  some  other  discreet 
and  learned  Minister  of  God's  Word,  and  open 
his  grief;  that  by  the  Ministry  of  God's  holy 
Word  he  may  receive  the  benefit  of  absolution," 
etc.  In  the  English  Office  for  the  Visitation  of 
the  Sick  it  is  directed  that  "  the  sick  person  shall 
be  moved  to  make  a  special  confession  of  his  sins, 
if  he  feels  his  conscience  troubled  with  any 
weighty  matter,"  i.  e.,  mortal  sin;  after  which  the 
priest  is  to  give  him  a  direct  absolution  — *'  I  ab- 
solve thee  from  all  thy  sins,  in  the  name,"  etc. 
The  American  Church  declares,  in  the  Preface  to 
the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  that  it  "  is  far  from 
intending  to  depart  from  the  Church  of  England 
in  any  essential  point  of  doctrine  or  discipline,  or 
worship,  or  further  than  local  circumstances  re- 
quire." There  would  not  appear  to  be  any  ''  local 
circumstance  "  that  requires  the  American  Church 
to  depart  from  the  teaching  of  the  Church  of 
England  and,  indeed,  of  the  whole  Catholic 
Church,  East  and  West,  in  this  matter  of  the  for- 
giveness of  post-baptismal  sin.  We  may  take  it 
as  certain,  in  view  of  the  above  quoted  language, 
that  the  American  Church  intends  the  practice  of 
individual  or  auricular  confession  to  continue. 

The  practice,  of  course,  ultimately  goes  back 
to  our  Lord's  commission  to  His  Apostles: 
"  Whose  soever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted 


THE   REMISSION    OF   SIN  183 

unto  them ;  and  whose  soever  sins  ye  retain,  they 
are  retained."  There  are  several  points  about 
that  statement  that  need  to  be  noticed.  In  the 
first  place  it  is  a  commission  to  retain  as  well  as 
to  remit.  The  sins  that  are  submitted  to  the  pos- 
sessors of  the  apostolic  commission  are  not  to  be 
automatically  remitted,  but  they  are  submitted 
for  judgment.  In  other  words,  the  priest  in  the 
confessional  sits  as  judge,  representing  and  hold- 
ing the  royal  authority  of  our  Lord.  His  action 
is  a  judicial  action.  Under  our  present  disci- 
pline, or  lack  of  it,  it  is  only  in  rare  cases  that 
the  priest  retains  the  sins  submitted  to  him;  but 
he  does  so  in  cases  in  which  he  refuses  absolution 
or  postpones  it.  The  early  Church  was  much 
more  severe  in  the  matter  of  penance,  and  for 
public  mortal  sins  enforced  a  penance  extending 
over  years,  and  in  some  cases  refused  absolution 
except  at  the  point  of  death.  The  later  discipline 
of  the  Church  has  inclined  to  the  side  of  tolerance 
and  charity,  and  has  reduced  the  required  penance 
for  sin  to  a  merely  nominal  amount,  and  grants 
absolution  before  the  performance  of  the  penance. 
It  holds  that  those  who  are  penitent  need  for  their 
reformation  the  grace  of  God,  and  should  not  be 
left  without  the  sacraments  in  their  struggle  with 

sin. 

Further,    the    judicial    nature    of   the   power 


184       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

committed  by  our  Lord  to  the  priest  necessarily 
implies  that  the  case  on  which  he  has  to  give  judg- 
ment in  exercising  his  power  of  binding  and  loos- 
ing shall  be  submitted  to  him  in  detail.  The  chief 
reason  why  a  general  confession  such  as  that 
which  the  congregation  is  directed  to  make  in  the 
public  services  cannot  be  followed  by  a  sacramen- 
tal absolution,  that  is  an  absolution  conveying  the 
grace  of  pardon,  is  that  there  has  been  submitted 
to  the  priest  no  case  on  which  to  base  a  judgment. 
The  priest  cannot  judge  because  he  does  not 
know.  Absolution  that  is  sacramental  therefore 
can  only  follow  confession  made  in  detail,  con- 
fession that  is,  stating  the  number  and  nature  of, 
at  least,  our  mortal  sins  so  far  as  they  can  be  re- 
called. It  is  true  that  in  times  of  emergency,  as 
in  accidents  by  land  and  sea,  before  battles,  etc., 
a  general  absolution  is  often,  and  rightly,  pro- 
nounced ;  still  this  is  only  a  conditional  absolution, 
though  the  condition  be  not  expressed.  Nor- 
mally, the  conduct  of  the  tribunal  of  penance  re- 
quires the  submission  of  individual  sins  and  the 
consideration  of  them  that  judgment  may  be 
given.  It  must  be  remembered  that  all  sins  (at 
least  mortal)  must  be  submitted.  It  sometimes 
happens  that  a  penitent  washes  to  submit  some  spe- 
cial sin  and  receive  absolution  for  that.  That  is 
impossible  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  is  not  a 


THE   REMISSION   OF   SIN  185 

sin  that  is  forgiven  but  a  sinner  —  one  cannot  be 
partly  absolved  and  partly  not. 

There  is  one  other  thing  that  is  involved  in  the 
judicial  nature  of  the  sacrament  of  penance  —  the 
sentence.  This,  which  is  called  the  penance,  is, 
as  I  pointed  out,  usually  some  small  act,  some 
prayer  or  psalm  to  be  said,  v^hich  the  penitent  is 
directed  to  perform.  But  it  must  not  be  thought 
unimportant  because  it  is  small.  It  is  part  of 
the  sacrament,  and  necessary  to  the  integrity  of 
the  sacrament.  If  through  forgetfulness  or  oth- 
erwise it  is  neglected,  the  fact  must  be  mentioned 
in  the  next  confession.  But  in  addition  to  the 
penance  of  greater  or  less  amount,  the  sentence  of 
the  judge  may  require  restitution;  that  is,  the  sins 
submitted  may  be  such  as  involve  injury  to  our 
neighbor  of  such  sort  that  it  can  and  therefore 
must  be  made  good.  The  rubrics  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Communion  Office  direct  the  Minister 
to  repel  from  the  Holy  Communion  sinners  of 
certain  classes.  This,  of  course,  is  not  simply 
that  the  good  name  of  the  Church  may  be 
guarded,  but  that  those  who  sin  may  not  by  an 
unworthy  reception  of  the  Holy  Communion  in- 
crease their  condemnation.  The  rule  will  hold 
therefore  in  private  confession  that  those  who 
decline  to  set  right  the  wrong  they  have  done,  as 
far  as  it  is  possible  for  them,  must,  for  their  own 


l86       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

sake  be  forbidden  the  sacrament.  The  confessor 
therefore,  in  the  case  of  such  sins  as  require  resti- 
tution, will  direct  that  such  restitution  be  made; 
and  though  he  then  proceed  to  give  absolution,  it 
must  be  understood  that  the  validity  of  the  abso- 
lution depends  on  the  good  faith  of  the  penitent 
receiving  it.  To  decline  to  make  restitution 
which  is  the  condition  of  our  receiving  absolution, 
is,  no  doubt,  mortal  sin. 

It  is  sometimes  asked  hov^  the  discipline  of  the 
Anglican  Communion  in  regard  to  the  sacrament 
of  penance  differs  from  that  of  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic Church.  It  differs  in  this:  The  Roman 
Church  makes  confession  compulsory.  Its  law 
requires  that  all  members  of  the  Church  shall 
make  their  confession  at  stated  intervals,  and, 
failing  that,  they  have  no  right  to  the  ministration 
of  the  Church.  That  is,  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  takes  the  responsibility  of  conducting  and 
directing  the  life  of  its  members  by  means  of  defi- 
nite regulations.  There  is,  no  doubt,  a  good  deal 
to  be  said  for  that  system;  but  it  is  not  the  An- 
glican system.  The  Churches  of  the  Anglican 
Communion  present  the  sacrament  of  penance  to 
their  members  as  a  privilege.  They  do  not  say, 
"  You  must  do  this  under  penalty  " ;  they  say, 
*'  Here  is  a  wonderful  privilege  and  opportunity. 
If  you  really  understand  that  this  is  the  offer  of 


THE   REMISSION    OF   SIN  187 

your  Lord  to  forgive  your  sins  you  will  not  stop 
to  question,  you  will  be  eager  to  receive."  It  is 
inconceivable  that  any  one  who  has  understood 
the  Church's  doctrine  of  the  remission  of  sins 
should  ever  ask,  ''Must  I  go  to  confession?" 
Their  only  question  will  be,  "  May  I  then  go  to 
confession  whenever  I  feel  the  need  of  it?" 
There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Anglican  method  af- 
fords place  for  much  laxity  and  fails  to  keep  ig- 
norant and  feeble  people  up  to  its  ideals;  but  it 
avoids  certain  dangers  of  mechanical  action,  and 
places  the  responsibility  for  the  conduct  of  the 
spiritual  Hfe  where  it  actually  belongs  —  on  the 
individual  Christian. 


XVIII 

PREPARATION  FOR  THE  SACRAMENTS 

SACRAMENT  is  a  supernatural  act 
wherein  God  and  man  are  brought  into 
relation  through  the  incarnate  nature  of  the  God- 
man.  The  impact  of  God  on  the  spiritual  nature 
of  man  is  what  is  ordinarily  described  as  grace. 
Grace  is  God  acting  on  man.  It  is  evident  that 
when  man  draws  near  to  God,  inviting  the  fulfil- 
ment of  the  divine  promises  attached  to  the  sacra- 
ments, it  is  essential  that  man  should  approach 
this  act  in  such  a  spiritual  state  as  to  profit  by  it. 
For  the  sacramental  action  is  reciprocal,  the  readi- 
ness of  God  to  impart  himself  requires  for  its 
completion  the  readiness  of  man  to  receive  and 
assimilate  the  divine  gift. 

What  the  Church  thinks  of  this  presence  of 
God  in  the  sacraments  and  of  the  need  of  prepa- 
ration in  our  approach  to  Him  is  sufficiently  plain 
from  the  care  it  takes  to  guard  such  approach., 
If  the  Church  did  not  believe  in  a  real  action  of 
God  in  the  sacrament  of  baptism,  or  if  it  did  not 

believe  in  a  real  Presence  of  our  Lord  in  the  sac- 

i88 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE   SACRAMENTS       189 

rament  of  the  Holy  Communion,  it  is  inconceiv- 
able that  it  should  guard  the  approach  to  them 
with  such  care.  If  they  are  simply  s3^mbolic  rites 
there  can  be  no  need  of  such  detailed  preparation 
in  the  approach  to  them.  And,  in  fact,  those 
who  think  of  the  Holy  Communion  as  but  bread 
and  wine  eaten  as  a  memorial  of  our  Lord's  death 
do  not  feel  the  need  of  a  preparation  involving 
self-examination,  confession  and  fasting. 

Let  us  see  what  is  the  attitude  of  the  Prayer 
Book  in  this  matter  of  self-examination.  The 
Shorter  Exhortation  begins :  *'  Ye  who  do  truly 
and  earnestly  repent  you  of  your  sins,  and  are  in 
love  and  charity  with  your  neighbors,  and  intend 
to  lead  a  new  life,  following  the  commandments 
of  God,  and  walking  from  henceforth  in  his  holy 
ways;  draw  near  with  faith,"  etc.  The  first  of 
the  longer  exhortations  goes  more  into  detail  in 
the  matter  of  preparation,  directing,  ''  First,  to 
examine  your  lives  and  conversations  by  the  rule 
of  God's  commandments;  and  whereinsoever  ye 
shall  perceive  yourself  to  have  offended,  either 
by  will,  word,  or  deed,  there  to  bewail  your  own 
sinfulness,  and  to  confess  yourselves  to  Almighty 
God,  with  full  purpose  of  amendment  of  life. 
And  if  ye  shall  perceive  your  offences  to  be  such 
as  are  not  only  against  God,  but  also  against  your 
neighbors ;  then  ye  shall  reconcile  yourselves  unto 


190      THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

them;  being  ready  to  make  restitution  and  satis- 
faction, according  to  the  uttermost  of  your  pow- 
ers, for  all  injuries  and  wrongs  done  by  you  to 
any  other;  and  being  likewise  ready  to  forgive 
others  who  have  offended  you,  as  ye  would  have 
forgiveness  of  your  offences  at  God's  hands;  for 
otherwise  the  receiving  of  the  holy  Communion 
doth  nothing  else  but  increase  your  condemna- 
tion." 

Turning  now  to  the  Catechism,  we  find  these 
questions  and  answers : 

Question.  What  is  required  of  persons  to  be 
baptized  ? 

Answer.  Repentance,  whereby  they  forsake 
sin;  and  Faith,  whereby  they  steadfastly  believe 
the  promises  of  God  made  to  them  in  that  Sacra- 
ment. 

Question.  What  is  required  of  those  who 
come  to  the  Lord's  Supper? 

Answer.  To  examine  themselves  whether 
they  repent  them  truly  of  their  former  sins,  stead- 
fastly purposing  to  lead  a  new  life;  and  have  a 
lively  faith  in  God's  mercy  through  Christ,  and 
a  thankful  remembrance  of  His  death;  and  be  in 
charity  with  all  men. 

From  these  data  we  gather  that  the  adequate 
preparation  for  the  sacraments  involves  the  fol- 
lowing:    Faith,     self-examination,     repentance, 


PREPARATION    FOR   THE   SACRAMENTS       IQI 

confession  (sacramental  confession  if  needed  — 
in  case  one  cannot  quiet  one's  own  conscience  that 
is,  is  in  mortal  sin),  a  firm  purpose  of  obedience, 
charity  with  all,  including  intention  of  restitu- 
tion, if  necessary.  This  is  surely  a  sufficiently 
definite  programme  and  implies  the  highest  sort 
of  sacramental  belief. 

The  fundamental  requisite  of  our  approach  is 
faith.  "  He  that  cometh  to  God  must  believe 
that  he  is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that 
diligently  seek  him."  Without  faith  we  should 
not  be  moved  to  act  at  all.  But  the  faith  that  is 
required  in  our  approach  to  God  is  not  an  intel- 
lectual assent  to  certain  propositions;  it  is  not 
even,  as  it  is  often  expressed,  faith  in  the  prom- 
ises of  God;  but  it  is  faith  in  God  Himself,  that 
is,  complete  surrender  of  ourselves  to  God.  We 
believe  in  God;  and  belief  in  any  one  implies 
readiness  of  self -committal  to  them.  Therefore 
faith  is  the  first  step  because  we  can  take  no  other 
step  until  we  have  abandoned  ourselves  to  God. 
When  we  think  of  faith  as  the  first  step  in  our 
approach  to  the  sacraments,  we  see  that  it  means 
a  submission  to  God  as  acting  in  a  certain  way, 
through  certain  means.  We  approach  whatever 
sacrament  we  are  about  to  receive  in  confidence 
and  expectancy  that  God  will  give  Himself  to  us 
in  that  sacrament  as  He  has  promised.     Faith 


192       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

means  that  we  trust  ourselves  to  our  Lord  and 
His  promised  action  without  expecting  or  indeed 
wishing  to  understand  hozv  the  promise  can  be 
fulfilled.  Faith  has  no  difficulty  about  regenera- 
tion in  baptism  or  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Holy 
Communion  or  about  a  priest  being  the  instru- 
ment of  the  divine  forgiveness  in  confession.  It 
has  no  difficulty  because  of  the  completeness  of 
its  self-surrender.  It  reserves  nothing  in  the 
obedience  and  it  reserves  nothing  in  the  way  of 
intellectual  surrender. 

He  w^ho  has  surrendered  himself  whole- 
heartedly to  God  in  the  act  of  faith  cannot  but 
feel  pain  when  he  realises  that  by  sin  he  has  vio- 
lated the  love  of  God.  For  that  is  the  best  ac- 
count of  sin,  that  it  is  a  violation  of  the  divine 
love,  a  wound  willingly  inflicted  on  Him  who 
loved  us  and  gave  Himself  for  us.  As  we  think 
of  our  approach  to  God  in  the  way  He  has  ap- 
pointed we  are  confronted  with  the  thought  that 
we  have  blocked  the  way  of  approach  by  our  own 
sins.  Hence  sorrow  for  sin,  or  repentance. 
That  must  be  the  root,  the  starting  place  of  re- 
pentance, the  sense  that  we  would  have  wounded 
Love.  Nothing  else  is  adequate  as  the  basis  of 
repentance  —  not  fear  of  the  consequences  of  sin, 
not  the  pain  of  wounded  pride  which  we  call  re- 
morse; but  just  the  feeling  that  we  have,  of  our 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE   SACRAMENTS        I93 

own  willing  act,  wounded  the  love  which  sought 
to  draw  us,  shaken  off  with  impatience  the  hand 
which  sought  to  restrain  us  within  the  compass 
of  the  divine  will. 

But  if  repentance  is  to  be  adequate  it  must  be 
intelligent.  We  cannot  repent  of  being  sinners; 
if  we  are  sinners  it  is  because  we  have  wounded 
the  love  of  God  in  certain  definite  ways.  In 
other  words,  we  do  not  repent  of  sin,  we  repent 
of  sins;  and  we  can  only  repent  of  such  sins  as 
we  know  that  we  have  committed.  Hence  the 
need  of  self-examination.  Self-examination  is 
the  reviewing  of  Hfe  in  the  light  of  the  will  of 
God,  the  careful  going  over  the  past  with  a  view 
to  detailed  knowledge  of  our  state  which  and 
which  alone  can  serve  as  a  basis  for  repentance. 
''  The  past  is  the  past ;  why  go  over  that  ?  If  you 
have  done  anything  wrong  the  only  medicine  for 
that  is  to  do  right  " —  so  men  say.  But  the  sin 
that  is  past  —  the  sin  of  yesterday,  of  last  week, 
of  last  year,  is  still  a  fact  in  my  spiritual  being 
until  it  has  been  dealt  with  according  to  God's 
will.  Forgetfulness  is  not  the  same  thing  as  for- 
giveness ;  my  sin  remains  until  I  have  repented 
of  it.  The  first  "  right  "  thing  one  has  to  do 
after  sinning  is  to  come  to  God  in  repentance. 
Those  who  tell  us  to  forget  the  past  and  live  in 
the  present,  doing  good  now,  would  hardly  so 


194       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

direct  one  who  had  injured  them.  We  should 
not  expect  to  find  them  saying  to  a  man  who  had 
broken  into  their  house,  or  run  off  with  their 
motor,  "  Never  mind  the  past,  my  good  man ; 
what  does  the  past  matter?  Turn  your  face  to 
the  morning  and  live  for  the  future !  "  It  is  only 
when  God  is  injured  that  men  think  the  injury 
of  small  consequence. 

Self-examination  is  the  only  adequate  means 
of  knowing  how  our  spiritual  life  is  progressing, 
of  how  we  stand  in  the  sight  of  God.  It  is  not 
difficult  and  it  is  of  great  spiritual  profit  if  it  be 
systematic  and  frequent.  Those  who  examine 
their  consciences  daily  do  not  find  the  practice 
difficult,  and  they  do  find  that  the  effect  on  their 
lives  is  very  deep  and  that  they  are  in  a  state  of 
constant  readiness  for  the  sacraments. 

Among  the  other  advantages  of  frequent  self- 
examination  is  this,  that  it  renders  it  impossible 
to  ignore  the  existence  of  mortal  sin.  It  is 
strangely  possible  for  us  to  ignore  our  own  spir- 
itual state  if  we  want  to  do  so.  It  is  possible  to 
remain  long  in  mortal  sin  if  we  shut  our  eyes  and 
think  about  something  else.  But  self-examina- 
tion makes  that  impossible.  It  keeps  the  con- 
science alert.  If  we  have  fallen  into  mortal  sin, 
the  sight  of  that  sin  when  we  make  our  self- 
cxamination  distresses  us.     It  is  that  unquiet  con- 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE   SACRAMENTS       I95 

science  which  sends  us  to  the  "  Minister  of  God^s 
Word  "  to  '*  open  our  grief  "  and  receive  the 
comfort  of  absolution  —  how  great  a  comfort 
only  those  can  know  who  have  experienced  it. 

To  the  completeness  of  our  repentance  it  is 
sometimes  necessary  that  we  should  evidence  it 
by  external  acts.  We  are  to  be  in  love  and  char- 
ity with  all  men,  so  far  as  in  us  lies.  It  may  be 
that  between  us  and  our  neighbor  there  is  some 
separating  bar,  a  bar  that  we  have  erected.  That 
bar  must  be  removed.  Read  carefully  the  rubrics 
at  the  beginning  of  the  Communion  Office;  they 
make  plain  the  Church's  attitude  in  this  matter. 
Read  the  first  of  the  long  exhortations :  "  And 
if  ye  shall  perceive  your  offences  to  be  such  as  are 
not  only  against  God,  but  also  against  your  neigh- 
bors; then  ye  shall  reconcile  yourselves  unto 
them ;  being  ready  to  make  restitution  and  satis- 
faction, according  to  the  uttermost  of  your  pow- 
ers, for  all  injuries  and  wrongs  done  by  you  to 
any  other;  and  being  likewise  ready  to  forgive 
others  who  have  offended  you,  as  ye  would  have 
forgiveness  of  your  offences  at  God's  hands." 
You  are  in  love  and  charity  when  you  have  done 
all  that  in  you  lies  to  remove  ground  of  offence 
between  your  neighbor  and  yourself.  You  are  in 
charity,  not  when  you  have  certain  feelings  to- 
ward your  neighbor,  but  when  you  are  ready  and 


196       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

willing  to  pursue  a  Christian  course  of  conduct 
toward  him. 

It  may  be  that  under  this  broad  head  of  sins 
against  charity  there  are  certain  sins  which  have 
injured  your  neighbor;  whether  he  knows  it  or 
not  is  unimportant.  Have  you  profited  in  any 
way  by  your  sin?  In  that  case  the  wrong  done 
by  which  your  neighbor  has  been  injured  and 
you  have  profited  must  be  made  good.  Restitu- 
tion must  be  made.  If  you  have  injured  any 
one's  reputation,  if  you  have  retained  any  one's 
property,  you  must  make  it  good.  There  can  be 
no  true  repentance  if  we  are  im willing  (we  shall 
not  always  be  able)  to  undo  the  harm  we  have 
done. 

Finally,  as  we  review  our  lives  and  become  con- 
scious of  their  manifold  sins  and  failures,  we 
must  approach  the  sacraments  with  a  full  purpose 
of  amendment  of  life.  This  is  one  of  the  require- 
ments, no  doubt,  that  gives  us  pause.  We  know 
that  we  have  made  our  communion  many  times 
with  a  purpose  to  amend,  and  we  know  that  in 
fact  we  have  not  amended.  That,  no  doubt,  is 
serious.  It  is  very  serious  if  it  be  case  of  mortal 
sin,  because  mortal  sin  can  be  overcome  by  God's 
grace  if  we  have  the  full  purpose  to  use  that  grace. 
Venial  sins  are  more  difficult  to  deal  with  and  re- 
quire more  patience  on  our  part.     We  have  gen- 


PREPARATION    FOR    THE  SACRAMENTS       I97 

erally  spent  a  good  deal  of  time  learning  venial 
sin;  we  have  cultivated  impatience,  or  an  un- 
controlled mind  which  makes  prayer  difficult  or 
minor  forms  of  pride.  It  requires  time  and  pa- 
tience and  infinite  care  and  watchfulness  to  root 
out  the  habits  we  have  formed.  The  test  of  our 
purpose  of  obedience  is  whether  we  want  to  root 
out  sins  and  are  diligently  trying  to  do  so ;  the  evi- 
dence of  struggle  in  our  lives  will  be  the  evidence 
of  purpose. 

So  the  Church  tries  to  guard  us  and  guide  us ; 
and  loyally  following  her  guidance,  applying  in 
detail  her  councils,  we  can  always  approach  our 
Lord  with  glad  hearts  and  the  certainty  of  the 
comfort  and  consolation  of  His  Presence. 


XIX 

THE  REAL  PRESENCE  IN  HOLY 
COMMUNION 

^^^HE  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  expresses 
^^y  the  conviction  of  the  Church  that  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  is  really  present  in  the  Blessed  Sac- 
rament. This  presence  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
bread  and  the  wine,  when  the  words  of  consecra- 
tion are  said  over  them  by  a  priest,  become  the 
Body  and  Blood  of  Christ.  Nobody  pretends 
that  this  change  is  one  that  is  easily  explained  or 
understood.  It  is  one  of  the  most  profound  mys- 
teries of  the  Christian  religion,  and  must  be  taken 
on  faith.  We  are  to  believe  that  the  consecrated 
bread  is  the  Body  of  Christ,  and  the  consecrated 
wine  His  Blood  because  of  His  words,  "  This  is 
my  body  "  and  "  This  is  my  blood  " ;  not  because 
it  is  intelligible  to  the  natural  reason. 

Of  course  nobody  believes  that  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ  are  present  in  the  Sacrament  in  a 
carnal,  local,  physical  sense.  He  is  not  present 
in  the  same  way  as  our  bodies  are  present  in  a 
definite  place  at  a  particular  time.     We  are  not 

198 


THE   REAL   PRESENCE  IQQ 

told  to  believe  that  we  press  with  our  teeth  the 
carnal  flesh  of  Christ  as  we  do  our  material  food. 
As  the  Twenty-eighth  Article  of  Religion  says, 
"  The  Body  of  Christ  is  given,  taken,  and  eaten, 
in  the  Supper,  only  after  an  heavenly  and  spiritual 
manner."  Nevertheless  the  sacred  Humanity  of 
our  Lord  is  really  present.  That  Humanity, 
which  hung  upon  the  Cross  and  rose  from  the 
tomb  and  is  now  enthroned  in  glory  in  heaven,  is 
present  wherever  the  Blessed  Sacrament  is  on 
earth. 

It  is  important  to  remember  that  it  is  the  risen, 
glorified  Body  of  Christ  which  is  present  on  our 
Altars.  The  presence  of  His  natural  body  in  the 
bread  and  wine  at  the  Last  Supper  can  only  be 
explained  as  miraculous.  His  glorified  Body  is 
no  longer  subject  to  the  laws  of  material  bodies 
in  our  three-dimensional  world.  It  is  conceiv- 
able that  the  Body  of  Christ  may  now  be  a  four- 
dimensional  Body;  but  how  such  a  Body  can  be 
present  in  our  three-dimensional  world  is  entirely 
beyond  our  present  comprehension.  If  we  lived 
in  a  flat  world  and  knew  only  the  two  dimensions 
of  length  and  breadth,  we  should  be  at  a  loss  to 
understand  the  presence  in  our  midst  of  a  body 
that  possessed  length  and  breadth  and  thickness; 
and  yet  its  presence  would  be  very  real.  So  in 
our  world  the  presence  of  the  risen,  spiritual  Body 


200       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

of  Christ  may  be  very  mysterious,  but  at  the  same 
time  very  real. 

There  is  in  our  daily  sense  experience  a  simple 
phenomenon  which  is  parallel  to  the  presence  of 
our  Lord's  Humanity  in  the  Eucharist.  Take 
any  object  in  the  natural  world:  a  bright  star  in 
the  heavens,  for  example.  It  becomes  present  on 
the  retina  of  the  eye  of  each  one  of  us  at  the  same 
time,  without  being  divided  into  fragments.  It 
becomes  a  present  reality  in  each  separate  con- 
sciousness. And  yet  if  anyone  made  the  state- 
ment that  any  star  could  be  present  in  many  places 
on  earth  at  the  same  time,  we  would  be  inclined 
to  regard  it  as  an  absurd  assertion.  In  somewhat 
the  same  way  as  the  star  becomes  present  in  the 
mental  consciousness  of  each  one  of  us,  the  Body 
of  Christ  becomes  present  on  every  Altar,  and  in 
each  particle  of  the  consecrated  elements,  for  us 
to  offer  to  God  as  our  Sacrifice,  and  to  receive 
into  our  souls  and  bodies  as  our  spiritual  food. 

M.  Bergson  has  said,  "  A  body  is  present  wher- 
ever its  (attractive)  influence  is  felt."  The  hu- 
man bodies  we  now  possess  can  make  their  influ- 
ence felt  only  where  they  are  locally  and  corpo- 
really present;  but  the  risen  Body  of  Christ  can 
make  its  influence  felt  wherever  a  few  of  the 
faithful  are  gathered  together  and  a  priest  utters 


THE   REAL    PRESENCE  20I 

the  sacred  words  of  consecration  over  the  bread 
and  wine. 

The  alternative  to  belief  in  the  Real  Presence 
is  belief  in  a  real  absence.  Of  course  all  Chris- 
tians believe  that  the  Divine  nature  of  Christ, — 
His  Eternal  Godhead, —  is  present  everywhere. 
The  presence  of  His  Divine  nature  is  not  here  in 
question.  What  we  are  considering  is,  whether 
we  may  believe  that  the  human  nature  of  Christ, 

—  comprising  His  Body  and  ]\Iind  and  Spirit, — 
is  really  present  amongst  the  assembly  of  the 
faithful,  as  it  was  among  the  disciples  in  Galilee, 
or  only  that  it  is  far  away  in  some  distant  heaven. 
One  or  the  other  must  be  true.  We  cannot  have 
it  both  ways. 

Now  it  is  not  of  much  consequence  what  any 
individual  in  the  Church  believes  on  this  subject, 

—  be  he  layman,  priest,  or  bishop.  The  impor- 
tant question  which  we  are  trying  to  answer  is, 
what  does  the  Church  authoritatively  teach  on  this 
matter  in  the  Prayer  Book?  That  is  very  easy 
to  find  out.  We  are  in  fact  troubled  by  an 
embarrassment  of  riches, —  there  are  so  many 
phrases  in  the  Book  of  Common  Pra3^er  that  bear 
precisely  upon  this  question.  We  have  space  to 
look  at  only  a  few  of  them. 

Let  us  first  turn  to  the  Church  Catechism.     To 


202       THE   RELIGION   OF  THE   PRAYER   BOOK 

the  question  "  What  is  the  inward  part,  or  thing 
signified?"  this  answer  is  given:  "The  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ,  which  are  spiritually  taken 
and  received  by  the  faithful  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per." Then  the  further  question  is  asked: 
"  What  are  the  benefits  whereof  we  are  partakers 
thereby  ?  "  And  the  answer  is :  "  The  strength- 
ening and  refreshing  of  our  souls  by  the  Body 
and  Blood  of  Christ,  as  our  bodies  are  by  the 
Bread  and  Wine."  If  the  Church  intended  to 
make  it  clear  that  she  believes  in  the  Real  Presence 
of  Christ  in  the  Eucharist,  it  is  difficult  to  see  how 
she  could  have  used  any  plainer  words.  If  the 
Church  did  not  mean  that,  these  answers  in  the 
Catechism  are  most  confusing  and  mystifying. 

In  the  Prayer  of  Consecration  we  pray,  ''  that 
we,  receiving  them  according  to  thy  Son  our  Sav- 
iour Jesus  Christ's  holy  institution,  in  remem- 
brance of  his  death  and  passion,  may  be  partak- 
ers of  his  most  blessed  Body  and  Blood."  And 
later  in  the  same  prayer  we  pray  "  that  we  may 
worthily  receive  the  most  precious  Body  and 
Blood  of  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ."  This  must  be 
very  uncomfortable  language  for  both  priest  and 
people  to  use,  if  they  do  not  accept  the  CathoHc 
doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence. 

In  the  sentences  which  are  pronounced  by  the 
priest  when  he  communicates  the  people  he  is 


THE   REAL   PRESENCE  203 

directed  to  say  *'  The  Body  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ "  and  "  The  Blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  Then  in  the  prayer  of  thanksgiving  we 
use  the  words :  ''  that  Thou  hast  vouchsafed  to 
feed  us  who  have  duly  received  these  holy  myste- 
ries, with  the  spiritual  food  of  the  most  precious 
Body  and  Blood  of  thy  Son  our  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ."  All  of  this  is  so  strikingly  clear  and 
definite  and  unmistakable  that  it  seems  capable  of 
only  one  interpretation. 

In  the  rubric  just  before  the  priest  gives  Com- 
munion to  the  people  he  is  directed  to  give  it ''  To 
the  People  also  in  order,  into  their  hands,  all  de- 
voutly kneeling."  This  requirement  that  the  peo- 
ple should  kneel  when  they  receive  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  caused  great  searchings  of  heart 
among  the  Puritans  in  England  in  the  sixteenth 
and  seventeenth  centuries.  They  made  frequent 
attempts  to  persuade  the  authorities  of  the  Church 
to  abolish  this  requirement  and  to  permit  people 
to  sit  in  their  pews  when  they  received  the  Sacra- 
ment. They  were  pleading  not  for  greater  ease 
or  convenience.  The  Puritans  had  no  desire  to 
make  people  more  comfortable.  They  were 
pleading  for  language  that  would  commit  the 
Church  to  a  belief  that  the  bread  and  wine  were 
simply  symbols  of  an  absent  Christ.  The  fact 
that  the  Church  steadily  refused  to  accede  to  their 


204       THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER    BOOK 

requests  is  strong  evidence  that  the  Church  has 
always  adhered  to  the  traditional  Catholic  belief 
in  the  Presence  of  our  Lord  in  the  Eucharist. 

Finally  in  the  first  of  the  two  long  Exhorta- 
tions at  the  end  of  the  Communion  Office  we  find 
these  beautiful  words:  **  Wherefore  it  is  our 
duty  to  render  most  humble  and  hearty  thanks  to 
Almighty  God,  our  heavenly  Father,  for  that  he 
hath  given  his  Son  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  not 
only  to  die  for  us,  but  also  to  be  our  spiritual  food 
and  sustenance  in  that  holy  Sacrament."  No 
words  could  express  more  clearly  the  belief  of 
Catholic  Christians  that  our  Lord,  in  the  words  of 
S.  Paul,  was  both  *'  delivered  for  our  offences  and 
rose  again  for  our  justification."  The  Catholic 
religion  holds  that  our  Lord  not  only  died  for  us 
upon  the  Cross,  but  also  gave  Himself  to  be  our 
Food  in  that  Blessed  Sacrament,  so  as  to  convey 
to  us  His  justifying  grace.  Protestantism,  in 
former  days,  believed  that  He  died  for  us  upon 
the  Cross;  and  that  we  appropriated  the  benefits 
of  His  death  by  faith  only.  Modern  Protestant- 
ism has  largely  given  up  even  the  belief  in  the 
atoning  merits  of  the  Cross.  The  words  quoted 
from  the  Exhortation  show  plainly  that  the 
Prayer  Book  teaches  the  Catholic  rather  than  the 
Protestant  doctrine. 


fi 


XX 

THE  EUCHARISTIC  SACRIFICE 

:10M  primeval  days  every  human  tribe  has 
offered  some  kind  of  sacrifice  to  its  god. 
We  all  have  in  our  nature  some  traces  of  these 
primitive  tribes.  In  the  average  modern  congre- 
gation most  of  the  tribes  of  the  ancient  Anglo- 
Saxon  v^orld  are  represented.  Our  ancestors 
came  from  various  nations  in  Europe:  and  far 
back  in  the  remote  past,  antedating  even  the  birth 
of  Christ,  our  ancestors  in  those  European  coun- 
tries,—  in  the  hills  of  Ireland,  by  the  Lakes  of 
Britain,  or  in  the  forests  of  Germany, —  were 
wont  to  gather  together  before  an  altar;  and  at 
that  altar  there  stood  a  priest,  who  as  their  mouth- 
piece and  representative  offered  a  sacrifice  to 
some  god. 

Whenever  therefore  we  assemble  in  church  to 
take  part  in  the  Celebration  of  the  Holy  Euchar- 
ist, we  instinctively  feel  akin  to  peoples  of  all 
races  and  all  times.  Buried  deep  in  the  inner- 
most being  of  every  one  of  us  is  the  instinct  which 

tells  us  that  it  is  right  and  fitting  to  gather  to- 

205 


206      THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

gether  to  offer  some  kind  of  sacrifice  to  God.  It 
is  in  the  blood,  we  cannot  help  it ;  no  matter  what 
our  religious  beHefs  may  be,  there  is  that  deep 
inborn  instinct,  coming  down  through  countless 
generations  from  primeval  ancestors,  which  leads 
us  to  assemble  before  an  altar,  to  speak  through 
the  priest  as  our  mouthpiece  to  God,  and  to  com- 
mission him  as  our  representative  to  offer  for  us 
a  sacrifice  to  God. 

It  is  an  interesting  study  to  try  to  discover 
what  the  offering  of  sacrifice  has  meant  in  the 
past.  If  we  investigate  the  history  of  the  ancient 
races  of  the  world,  we  shall  find  that  in  the  in- 
fancy of  many  of  these  races  there  prevailed  the 
horrible  repulsive  practice  of  human  sacrifice. 
This  practice  is  still  observed  to-day  by  some  of 
the  more  ignorant  races  of  the  world, —  the  offer- 
ing of  human  blood  upon  an  altar  to  God.  More 
frequently  however  we  find  traces  of  the  offering 
of  the  blood  of  animals  upon  the  altar;  and  in 
many  instances  the  offering  of  the  fruits  of  the 
earth, —  the  wheat  and  the  corn  and  other  prod- 
ucts of  the  harvest, —  as  a  thank-offering  to  the 
particular  god  in  whom  that  race  or  tribe  believed. 
There  has  always  been  the  sense  that  the  sacrifice 
was  to  be  made  to  one  who  was  feared  and  loved, 
and  out  of  that  which  cost  something  to  the  giver. 
Thus  we  find  always,  underlying  the  sacrifice,  a 


THE    EUCHARISTIC    SACRIFICE  207 

recognition  of  the  power  and  over-lordship  of 
God.  This  was  a  right  instinct,  however  it  mani- 
fested itself,  whether  in  the  sacrifice  of  human 
life,  or  of  animal  hfe,  or  of  the  fruits  of  the  earth. 

Now  the  Christian  sacrifice  which  we  offer  in 
the  Holy  Eucharist  does  not  destroy,  it  rather 
continues  the  religious  traditions  of  the  race;  but 
all  that  is  gruesome  or  cruel  in  the  practise  of 
human  and  animal  sacrifices  has  passed  away. 
We  come  to  God  as  did  our  forefathers,  or  the 
people  of  other  races  and  tongues,  to  offer  our 
sacrifice,  our  holy  gifts,  in  this  sacrifice  of  the 
New  Covenant  instituted  by  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

And  what  is  it  that  we  offer  to  God  in  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  Eucharist?  We  offer  primarily  the 
Lamb  of  God  who  was  slain  for  the  sins  of  the 
world;  and  in  so  doing  we  offer  the  one,  true, 
pure,  and  perfect  sacrifice.  We  plead  before  God 
the  sacrifice  He  made  upon  the  Cross  for  the  sins 
of  the  whole  world,  and  in  doing  that  we  are 
offering  to  God  the  most  complete  and  acceptable 
offering  that  could  be  offered  by  human  hands. 
But  the  sacrifice  which  we  offer  is  not  wholly  ob- 
jective. We  offer  in  union  with  that  sacrifice 
ourselves,  our  souls  and  bodies,  "  to  be  a  reason- 
able, holy  and  living  sacrifice  to  God."  We  offer 
ourselves  in  Christ,  sanctified  by  His  merits,  puri- 


208       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

fied  by  His  grace,  our  imperfections  covered  by 
His  perfection.  The  clouds  of  incense  ascending 
before  the  ahar  symboHze  the  merits  of  Christ 
in  this  sacrifice  covering  our  sins  and  ascending  to 
God  as  a  sweet-smelHng  savor. 

That  is  the  sacrifice  we  offer  to  God  whenever 
we  are  present  at  the  Holy  Eucharist.  We  are 
taking  part  in  a  great  action.  We  should  not 
think  of  it  so  much  as  a  form  of  words,  it  is  a 
great  action  :  the  offering  of  ourselves  in  and  with 
with  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  to  our  Father  in 
heaven.  That  action  is  preceded  by  the  rehearsal 
of  the  Commandments  of  God,  by  the  reading  of 
selections  from  the  Epistles  and  Gospels  for  our 
edification,  by  our  profession  of  our  faith  in  the 
Creed,  by  intercessions  and  prayers  for  the  whole 
state  of  Christ's  Church,  and  by  the  confession 
of  our  sinfulness.  It  is  followed  by  thanksgiving 
and  a  great  act  of  praise  to  God  in  the  Gloria  in 
Excelsis.  But  the  essence  of  the  transaction  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Prayer  of  Consecration,  when 
we  offer  ourselves  in  and  with  Christ  to  the 
Father.  We  are  thereby  fulfilling  the  injunction 
of  S.  Paul :  '*  I  beseech  you  therefore,  brethren, 
by  the  mercies  of  God  that  ye  present  your  bodies 
a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  unto  God,  which 
is  your  reasonable  service."  It  does  not  make 
any  vital  difference  whether  we  attend  to  each 


THE    EUCHARISTIC    SACRIFICE  2O9 

particular  word  of  the  service  or  not;  in  fact,  one 
may  conceivably  join  in  this  holy  sacrifice  of  the 
Eucharist  without  hearing  a  word  that  is  spoken 
from  the  altar.  If  we  take  part  in  this  great  ac- 
tion by  offering  ourselves  to  God,  our  souls  and 
bodies,  in  union  with  our  Lord's  perfect  offering 
of  Himself,  we  are  taking  part  in  this  service  in 
an  edifying  way. 

This  act  of  self -consecration  should  never  be 
absent  from  our  worship.  Every  time  we  are 
present  at  the  Eucharist  we  should  make  an  effort 
to  detach  ourselves  from  all  that  is  sinful  and  re- 
new our  consecration  to  God  and  all  that  is  good. 
That  is  something  that  we  need  to  do  very  often 
if  we  are  trying  to  Hve  earnest  Christian  lives. 
We  need  very  often  to  detach  ourselves  from 
everything  worldly  and  sinful,  and  renew  our 
union  with  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  as  we  offer 
Him  to  God  we  must  offer  ourselves  to  God. 
We  should  do  this  at  least  on  every  Lord's  Day. 
It  was  a  true  instinct  in  the  Church  which  has 
made  this  offering  of  ourselves  in  the  Eucharist 
the  crowning  act  of  all  events  in  our  lives.  The 
burial  of  some  one  we  love,  the  marriage  of  a 
Christian  man  and  Christian  woman,  the  ordina- 
tion of  a  man  to  the  priesthood,  the  consecration 
of  a  Bishop,  the  opening  of  a  council  or  a  con- 
vention, the  consecration  of  a  King,  or  any  great 


210       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE   PRAYER   BOOK 

act  in  our  individual,  national,  or  ecclesiastical 
life,  should  be  crowned  and  consummated  by  the 
great  offering  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice  in  which  we 
present  Christ  and  ourselves  in  union  with  Him 
to  God 


XXI 

THE  CHIEF  ACT  OF  WORSHIP 

^^:^HERE  are  many  churches  in  the  Anglican 
^^^  Communion  in  which  the  Holy  Eucharist 
is  celebrated  every  Sunday  as  the  chief  act  of 
worship.  Those  who  enter  such  churches  for  the 
first  time  often  express  surprise  at  the  kind  of 
worship  being  offered.  It  does  not  seem  to  be 
like  the  worship  in  other  Episcopal  churches  with 
which  they  have  been  familiar.  Perhaps  they  are 
sufficiently  versed  in  the  Prayer  Book  to  under- 
stand that  it  is  the  Holy  Communion  that  is  being 
celebrated;  but  they  do  not  understand  why  so 
few  people,  or  none  at  all,  should  receive  Com- 
munion. Perhaps  they  are  not  Church  people 
and  therefore  have  not  the  slightest  notion  what 
is  going  on.  Any  regular  attendant  of  such  a 
church  if  asked  by  those  people  why  they  had 
that  sort  of  worship  ought  to  be  able  to  answer 
them.  Let  us  now  try  to  see  what  that  answer 
would  be. 

First  of  all  let  us  get  it  clear  in  our  minds  what 
this  service  is.     It  is  the  Lord's  Service,  the  one 

211 


212       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

act  of  worship  instituted  by  our  Divine  Saviour, 
On  the  night  before  He  died  He  took  bread  and 
wine  and  instituted  the  sacrifice  of  the  New 
Covenant,  as  a  perpetual  memorial  of  His  Body 
broken  and  His  Blood  shed  upon  the  Cross  for 
our  redemption.  He  said  to  His  disciples  **  Do 
this  in  remembrance  of  Me."  You  may  call  it 
by  any  name  you  like,  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  Holy 
Communion,  the  Holy  Eucharist,  the  Holy  Mys- 
teries, the  Holy  Sacrifice,  or  the  Mass ;  but  in  any 
case  it  is  the  Lord's  Service, —  the  one  kind  of 
worship  He  commanded  us  to  offer. 

That  this  was  the  common  act  of  worship  on 
the  Lord's  Day  among  the  early  Christians  is 
plain  from  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  In  many 
passages  we  read  that  the  disciples  came  together 
on  the  first  day  of  the  week  "  for  the  breaking  of 
bread."  That  was  the  name  then  commonly  ap- 
plied to  that  service.  For  example,  we  read, 
*'  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week  when  the  disci- 
ples came  together  to  break  bread,  Paul  preached 
unto  them."  This  continued  to  be  the  chief  act 
of  worship  everywhere  in  the  Church  until  the 
days  of  the  Reformation.  The  various  Protes- 
tant sects  that  then  arose  substituted  different 
forms  of  man-made  worship  for  the  ancient  and 
divinely  established  worship  of  the  Eucharist. 
But  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  is  witness  that 


THE    CHIEF   ACT   OF   WORSHIP  213 

the  Church  of  England  retained  the  Lord's  Serv- 
ice as  the  chief  act  of  worship  for  every  Lord's 
Day.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Euchar- 
ist is  the  only  service  in  which  the  Prayer  Book 
orders  a  sermon  to  be  preached,  the  banns  of  mar- 
riage to  be  published,  and  other  notices  to  be 
given  to  the  people, —  all  of  which  implied  that 
in  the  mind  of  the  Church  this  was  the  service 
at  which  the  bulk  of  the  congregation  would  be 
present.  In  addition  to  this  fact  the  Prayer 
Book  sets  forth  a  collect,  epistle  and  gospel  for 
every  Sunday  in  the  year,  which  implies  that  the 
Holy  Communion  was  to  be  celebrated  at  least 
every  Sunday. 

How  then  did  it  come  about  that  the  Com- 
munion was  celebrated  so  often  when  the  greater 
part  of  the  congregation  were  not  making  their 
communion,  or  when  no  one  except  the  priest  re- 
ceived communion?  It  was  largely  the  result 
of  the  change  in  the  social  habits  of  the  people. 
At  first  the  Holy  Communion  was  celebrated  only 
once  on  the  same  day,  and  then  most  of  those 
present  made  their  communions.  But  that  was 
because  people  did  not  take  the  first  meal  of  the 
day  until  about  noon.  Therefore  they  could 
easily  receive  fasting  at  any  hour  in  the  morning, 
and  thereby  be  obedient  to  a  universal  Christian 
custom.     For  it  was  felt  from  the  beginning  that 


214       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

out  of  honour  to  the  Holy  Sacrament  this  sacred 
Food  should  be  received  as  the  first  food  of  the 
day.  Gradually  however  the  social  custom 
arose  of  breakfasting  early  in  the  day.  As  that 
custom  spread,  the  Church  began  to  have  two 
celebrations  of  the  Eucharist  every  Sunday,  the 
early  one  for  communion,  and  the  later  one  for 
worship. 

This  was  a  perfectly  legitimate  development. 
Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  present  in  the  Blessed 
Sacrament  for  two  purposes,  to  be  our  Sacrifice 
and  to  be  our  spiritual  Food.  That  is  why  the 
Altar,  a  place  on  which  sacrifice  is  offered,  is  also 
called  the  Lord's  Table,  because  it  is  the  place 
where  we  receive  our  spiritual  food.  The 
Church  Catechism  puts  the  sacrificial  purpose  of 
this  sacrament  first,  in  its  answer  as  to  why  the 
Sacrament  was  ordained :  "  For  the  continual 
remembrance  of  the  vSacrifice  of  the  death  of 
Christ,  and  of  the  benefits  which  we  receive 
thereby."  Therefore  we  are  at  liberty  to  empha- 
size either  aspect  of  this  rite.  We  may  use  it 
primarily  for  making  our  communions,  or  we 
may  use  it  primarily  as  a  means  of  worship.  For 
that  reason  the  Church  was  acting  within  her 
rights  when  she  began  to  have  two  celebrations 
of  the  Eucharist  every  Sunday,  the  early  one  for 
communion,  and  the  later  one  for  worship. 


THE    CHIEF   ACT    OF   WORSHIP  21 5 

Now  just  what  do  we  mean  by  saying  that  the 
Eucharist  may  be  used  for  worship  ?  Or  to  put  it 
in  another  way,  what  do  we  mean  by  the  Euchar- 
istic  Sacrifice?  We  mean  that  in  this  service  we 
worship  God  by  offering  to  Him  Christ  Crucified 
as  our  sacrifice.  Through  the  consecration  by 
the  words  of  the  priest  the  bread  and  wine  become 
the  broken  Body  and  the  poured-out  Blood  of 
Christ,  and  we  then  offer  them  to  God  as  we  say 
in  the  Prayer  of  Consecration,  "  We  do  celebrate 
and  make  here  before  Thy  Divine  Majesty,  with 
these  Thy  holy  gifts,  which  we  now  offer  unto 
Thee,  the  memorial  Thy  Son  hath  commanded  us 
to  make."  We  plead  the  great  Sacrifice  once  for 
all  offered  and  made  upon  the  Cross  for  the  sins 
of  the  world.  Just  because  we  are  all  sinners, 
this  ought  to  be  the  key-note  of  our  worship 
whenever  we  appear  before  God.  If  we  were 
sinless  beings,  then  it  is  conceivable  that  some 
other  kind  of  worship  might  meet  our  needs. 
But  being  what  we  are,  we  cannot  ignore  the  su- 
preme fact  that  God  has  sent  His  Son  into  the 
world,  and  the  world  nailed  Him  to  the  Cross. 
That  offering  determines  what  is  to  be  our  rela- 
tion to  this  sinful  world.  We  must  be  crucified 
unto  the  world.  And  we  must  not  be  ashamed 
to  bear  the  Cross  and  to  hold  it  up  before  an  un- 
believing world.     We  must  glory  in  the  Cross. 


2l6       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

We  can  do  that  best  by  making  it  the  fundamen- 
tal element  in  all  our  worship.  ''  God  forbid  that 
I  should  glory  save  in  the  Cross  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  whereby  the  world  is  crucified  unto  me 
and  I  unto  the  world." 

We  need  have  no  fear  that  we  are  in  the  minor- 
ity, that  we  are  doing  some  strange  thing,  in 
taking  our  share  in  this  kind  of  worship.  It 
would  indeed  make  little  difference  whether  most 
Episcopal  Churches  had  this  kind  of  worship  or 
not,  for  the  Episcopal  Church  is  a  very  small  seg- 
ment compared  with  the  whole  Catholic  Church 
of  all  the  ages.  We  are  not  in  the  minority. 
When  we  are  taking  part  in  the  Lord's  Service 
as  the  chief  act  of  worship  on  every  Lord's  Day, 
we  are  one  with  the  early  Christian  disciples  and 
the  Apostles,  breaking  bread  from  house  to  house. 
We  are  one  with  all  the  Christians  of  the  world 
for  the  first  fifteen  centuries.  We  are  one  with 
three-fifths  of  all  the  Christians  in  the  world  to- 
day. We  are  one  with  that  great  company  "  of 
all  nations,  and  kindreds,  and  people,  and 
tongues  "  who  stand  before  the  throne  of  God  in 
Heaven,  adoring  the  Lamb,  as  it  had  been  slain, 
and  offering  the  Eucharistic  sacrifice. 


XXII 

THE  RESERVATION  OF  THE  BLESSED 
SACRAMENT 


fi 


RESERVATION  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament 
has  been  widely  practiced  in  the  Church 
from  the  earliest  times.  The  fact  is  singularly 
well  attested  and  there  is  no  need  here  to  go  into 
the  details  of  the  evidence  for  it.  It  will  suffice 
to  cite  our  earliest  witness,  Justin  Martyr,  who 
wrote  about  the  middle  of  the  second  century. 
He  is  explaining  the  worship  of  the  Christians  to 
the  Roman  authorities,  and  we  may  assume  that 
the  services  which  he  describes  as  in  use  in  the 
middle  of  the  second  century  have  been  in  use  for 
some  time  preceding  that  date,  and  that  there- 
fore the  practice  of  Reservation  as  he  describes 
it  is  in  fact  considerably  older  than  the  date  of 
his  Apology.     This  is  what  he  says :  — 

"  When  we  have  finished  our  prayer,  bread  is 
brought  and  wine  and  water,  and  the  president 
sends  up  both  prayers  and  Thanksgivings  as  best 
he  can,  and  the  people  express  assent  by  saying 

the  Amen.     And  there  is  the  distribution  and  the 

217 


2l8       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

partaking  by  each  one  of  those  things  over  which 
the  Thanksgiving  has  been  said,  and  these  are 
sent  to  those  who  are  not  present  by  the  hands  of 
the  deacons."  It  will  be  noted  that  nothing  is 
here  said  of  the  sick;  the  sacrament  is  sent  to 
those  members  of  the  Church  who  are  not  able  to 
be  present.  I  notice  this  because  our  evidence 
of  primitive  practice  shows  that  Reservation  was 
not  exclusively  for  the  sick.  It  was  considered 
of  great  importance  that  the  sick,  and  especially 
those  who  were  in  danger  of  death  should  re- 
ceive the  Sacrament;  but  it  was  also  held  impor- 
tant that  every  one  should  receive  frequently,  and 
it  was  consequently  sent  by  the  hands  of  the  dea- 
cons to  such  as  were  unable  to  be  pr».sent  at  the 
public  service.  But  it  was  not  long  before  this 
method  was,  in  large  measure  at  least,  superseded 
by  private  reservation :  that  is,  Christians  were 
permitted  to  take  from  the  public  administration 
of  the  sacrament  the  Sacred  Gifts,  and  to  keep 
them  in  their  own  houses  and  to  communicate 
when  they  saw  fit.  This  practice  was  greatly 
favored  by  the  conditions  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity during  the  era  of  persecution,  but  it  sur- 
vived after  the  persecution  passed  away.  There 
is  little  evidence  at  any  time  of  the  celebration  of 
the  Eucharist  in  private  houses  for  clinical  com- 
munions.    After  the  Church  came  to  have  its 


RESERVATION    OF    BLESSED   SACRAMENT       2ig 

own  buildings  and  untrammelled  worship,  cele- 
brations in  private  houses  for  any  reasons  were 
discouraged,  and  reservation  preferred. 

During  this  early  period  it  is  certain  that  reser- 
vation was  almost  universally  under  the  single 
species  of  bread. 

Later  in  the  history  of  the  Church  private  res- 
ervation came  to  be  considered  undesirable  and 
was  at  length  prohibited.  Reservation  now  be- 
came official,  and  the  tendency  of  the  early  Mid- 
dle Ages  was  to  administer  under  both  kinds  and 
commonly  by  intinction;  only  under  very  special 
circumstances  would  the  species  be  administered 
separately.  In  the  West,  in  the  later  Middle 
Ages,  there  is  a  reversion  to  the  primitive  custom 
of  administration  under  the  species  of  bread  only. 
This  of  course  was  coincident  with  the  with- 
drawal of  the  chalice  from  the  laity. 

We  may  sum  up  by  saying  that  the  evidence 
at  hand  shows  that  it  was,  from  the  earliest  times, 
the  practice  of  the  Christian  Church  to  reserve 
the  sacrament  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  for  the  pur- 
pose of  communicating  those  who  are  unable  to 
be  present  at  the  public  service,  and  that,  with 
certain  exceptions  such  as  the  communion  of  the 
newly  baptized  at  solemn  seasons,  there  is  no  evi- 
dence of  the  existence  of  any  regular  practice  of 
reserving  the  species   of   wine.     Reservation  is 


220      THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

normally  reservation  of  the  species  of  bread. 
This  is  the  Western  use.  In  the  East  reservation 
has  always  been  practiced,  but  there  the  reserva- 
tion of  the  intinct  species  has  been  maintained.  The 
species  of  bread  is  wet  with  the  species  of  wine 
and  then  dried  and  reserved.  Reservation  is  and 
always  has  been  the  use  of  the  Christian  Church. 
In  opposition  to  this  Catholic  use,  it  is  main- 
tained, the  Prayer  Books  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land and  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  for- 
bid reservation.  That,  in  any  case,  is  too  strong 
a  statement  of  the  fact.  If  the  Prayer  Book  for- 
bids reservation  it  forbids  it  only  by  implication. 
The  rubric  at  the  end  of  the  Communion  Office  is 
as  follows :  — 

"And  if  any  of  the  consecrated  Bread  and  Wine 
remain  after  the  Communion,  it  shall  not  be  carried 
out  of  the  Church ;  but  the  Minister  and  other 
Communicants  shall,  immediately  after  the  Bless- 
ing, reverently  eat  and  drink  the  same." 

Now  there  are  several  things  to  be  said  about 
this: 

In  the  first  place  it  is  not  contended  by  any  one, 
I  think,  that  the  intention  of  the  framers  of  the 
rubric  was  to  forbid  reservation.  Some  of  the 
clergy  who  took  part  in  the  revision  of  the  Prayer 
Book  in  1661  when  this  rubric  was  introduced 


RESERVATION    OF   BLESSED   SACRAMENT       221 

believed  in  reservation;  v^e  have  the  evidence  of 
their  writings  to  this  fact.  But  in  framing  the 
rubric  there  was  no  question  of  reservation.  It 
was  framed  to  meet  an  abuse  (which  we  may 
hope  was  feared  rather  than  existed)  possible 
under  the  rubric  of  1559  to  the  effect  that  "if  any 
of  the  bread  or  wine  remain,  the  curate  shall  have 
it  for  his  own  use."  It  was  feared  that  in  cases 
of  over  consecration  the  curate  might  ''  take  for 
his  own  use  "  what  was  left  of  the  consecrated 
elements,  as  well  as  (what  the  rubric  intended) 
of  the  unconsecrated.  Hence  the  1661  rubric 
directing  the  immediate  consumption  of  the  con- 
secrated bread  and  wine.  But,  it  is  maintained, 
whatever  may  have  been  the  intention  of  the 
framers  of  the  rubric,  the  rubric  as  it  stands  in 
the  Prayer  Book  to-day  does  actually  forbid 
reservation.  Archbishop  Temple  in  an  opinion 
delivered  in  1900,  held  that  reservation  was 
*'  quite  consistent  with  the  Christian  faith,  and 
there  was  nothing  in  it  that  was  wrong  in  itself.'* 
But  nevertheless  he  held,  ''  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land does  not  allow  reservation  in  any  form,  and 
that  those  who  think  it  ought  to  be  allowed  —  are 
not  justified  in  practicing  reservation  until  the  law 
has  been  altered."  ^ 

1  Archbishop  Temple  had  to  take  into  account  the 
XXVIIIth  Article,  which  has  not  to  be  considered  in  our 
case. 


222       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

But  is  this  rigorist  interpretation  of  the  rubric 
necessary?  I  do  not  think  that  it  is.  If  it  could 
be  shown  that  the  rubric  was  intended  to  prevent 
reservation,  then  it  might  be  contended  that  what 
I  propose  is  a  dishonest  attempt  to  "  get  round  " 
the  rubric.  But  considering  the  admitted  inten- 
tion of  the  rubric,  I  do  not  think  it  is  open  to  that 
charge.  If  when  the  Holy  Communion  is  cele- 
brated a  certain  portion  of  the  consecrated  ele- 
ments is  administered  to  the  people,  and  another 
portion  is  placed  in  the  ciborium  and  enclosed  in 
the  tabernacle  for  future  use  in  communicating 
the  sick,  what  remains  after  the  communion  will 
be  so  much  of  the  bread  and  wine  as  remains  on 
the  altar.  What  has  been  appropriated  to  special 
use  cannot  be  said  to  remain  in  the  sense  of  the 
rubric.^  Believing,  as  I  do,  that  the  rubric  does 
not  intend  to  prevent  reservation,  I  think  it  quite 
fair  to  act  on  this  interpretation  of  it. 

Failing  that,  what  is  one  to  do  about  communi- 
cating the  sick?  I  suppose  that  many  would 
answer,  Why  not  use  what  the  Prayer  Book  pro- 
vides, and  celebrate  the  Holy  Communion  in  the 
house  of  the  sick  person?  The  answer  is  that  in 
many  cases  one  cannot  —  in  the  majority  of  cases 

iMacColl,  "The  Reformation  Settlement,"  p.  i68. 


RESERVATION   OF   BLESSED   SACRAMENT       22^ 

in  the  work  of  a  city  parish  which  at  all  minis- 
ters to  the  spiritual  needs  of  the  poor  one  cannot. 
There  are  certain  conditions  of  leisure  and  pros- 
perity under  which  the  Holy  Communion  can  be 
with  some  approximation  to  reverence  celebrated 
in  a  private  house ;  but  it  cannot  be  so  celebrated 
at  midnight  at  the  bedside  of  a  dying  person,  or 
in  response  to  a  hurry  call  to  a  hospital,  or  in  the 
bedroom  of  a  tenement  house.  There  are  many 
cases  in  which  neither  time  nor  circumstances  per- 
mit of  a  celebration. 

Again:  what  are  we  to  do?  Apparently  we 
are  to  wait  until  the  General  Convention  of  the 
Church  can  invent  a  suitable  rubric  which  will 
permit  the  sacrament  to  be  taken  to  the  sick,  and 
at  the  same  time  prevent  any  one  from  treating 
it  as  though  they  believed  what  the  Prayer  Book 
teaches  about  the  Real  Presence.  Practically,  we 
are  being  told  that  it  is  better  that  sick  folk  should 
die  without  the  Blessed  Sacrament  than  that  pro- 
vision should  be  made  for  communicating  them 
under  conditions  which  will  permit  of  the  worship 
of  Jesus  Christ  present  in  the  sacrament. 

Are  we  to  wait  then?  No:  some  of  us  have 
ceased  to  wait  long  ago.  Our  action  has  been 
taken  on  the  assumption  that  a  practice  which  is 
of  universal  prevalence  in  the  Church  in  the  past, 


224       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

and  is  enforced  by  unrepealed  Canon  law  ^  in  the 
Anglican  Church,  does  not  require  any  further 
direction  to  enable  present  use.  As  has  been 
pointed  out  recently  by  Dr.  Darwell  Stone,  "  The 
act  of  reserving  the  Sacrament  may  well  be  re- 
garded as  part  of  the  ordinary  method  by  which 
the  parish  priest  secures  that  he  can  give  com- 
munion to  those  who  need  it,  so  that  reservation 
in  a  parish  church,  as  distinct  from  a  private 
chapel,  for  reservation  in  which  leave  is  certainly 
required,  does  not  require  any  direction  or  sanc- 
tion from  the  bishop."  ^ 

I  would  insist  that  the  Reserved  Sacrament  is 
not  simply  desirable,  but  necessary  to  the  carry- 
ing on  of  a  parish  work  where  the  Catholic  Re- 
ligion is  believed  and  practiced  in  its  entirety. 
As  a  concrete  case  makes  this  fact  more  vivid 
than  many  pages  of  argument,  I  will  tell  of  a  per- 
sonal experience  of  a  not  unusual  type. 

On  a  day  not  long  ago  the  telephone  rang  in 
the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  and  I  was  asked 
whether  the  sacrament  could  be  sent  at  once  to  a 
hospital.  It  appeared  that  a  man  had  been  taken 
to  the  hospital,  and  that  the  physicians  on  exami- 
nation had  determined  that  an  immediate  opera- 
tion was  necessary.     The  man  was  already  being 

1  Stone,  "  The  Reserved  Sacrament,"  pp.  24-26. 
^Jbid.,  p.  89. 


RESERVATION    OF   BLESSED    SACRAMENT       225 

prepared  for  the  operating  room.  He  did  not 
belong  to  my  parish ;  but  his  own  parish  was  in  a 
distant  part  of  the  city  and  there  would  be  no 
time  for  his  rector  to  reach  the  hospital  before 
the  operation,  and  moreover,  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment was  not  reserved  in  the  parish  to  which  he 
belonged.  I  was  called  because  it  was  known 
that  the  Sacrament  was  reserved  in  the  church  of 
which  I  am  rector.  Within  twenty  minutes  from 
the  call  a  priest  had  taken  the  Sacrament  to  the 
hospital  and  communicated  the  man.  He  then 
went  to  the  operating  room  and  there  died. 

In  such  cases  a  service  for  the  Communion  of 
the  Sick  is  of  no  avail.  Nor  will  any  rubric 
that  can  be  invented  permitting  reservation  for 
known  cases  help  us.  The  only  thing  which 
covers  our  constant  need  is  perpetual  reservation. 
And  inasmuch  as  there  appears  to  be  nothing  in 
the  law  of  the  Church  of  God  to  prevent  res- 
ervation, why  are  we  anxious  about  legisla- 
tion? 

It  is  said  that  there  would  be  small  difficulty 
in  getting  legislation  permitting  reserv^ation  for 
the  sick,  if  reservation  for  the  sick  were  all  that 
was  wanted  by  the  advocates  of  such  legislation. 
The  demand  for  reservation  for  the  sick  is  re- 
garded, in  other  words,  as  a  blind  to  gain  the 
Reserved  Sacrament  for  devotional  purposes. 


226      THE   RELIGION   OF    THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Now  this  is  distinctly  not  true.  Reservation 
is  desired  and  practiced  primarily  for  the  sick. 
At  the  same  time,  speaking  of  course  only  for 
myself,  I  would  say  quite  frankly  that  the  devo- 
tional use  of  the  Reserved  Sacrament  seems  to 
me  of  great  spiritual  value.  Such  devotional 
uses  are,  no  doubt,  of  late  development  in  the 
Church.  But  devotional  practice  is  one  of  the 
things  in  which  we  may  very  well  look  for  con- 
tinual development.  I  see  no  ground  for  object- 
ing to  a  service  on  the  ground  that  it  is  modern. 
Indeed,  one  cannot  very  consistently  do  so  when 
one  considers  that  the  services  of  devotion  to  our 
Lord  present  in  the  Blessed  Sacrament  are  older 
than  the  much  esteemed  service  of  matins.  We 
are,  too,  constantly  revising  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  in  answer  to  a  demand  for  "  more  flexi- 
ble "  and  "  popular  and  attractive  "  services.  All 
people  are  not  "  attracted  "  to  all  services :  it  may 
be  that  there  are  considerable  numbers  who  would 
be  "  attracted  "  by  Eucharistic  services.  If  so  it 
would  surely  be  in  line  with  our  modern  legisla- 
tion to  permit  them.  Still,  I  hold  no  brief  for  the 
authorization  of  such  services  as  Benediction. 
What  I  would  insist  on  is  the  value  of  devotion 
to  the  Reserved  Sacrament  as  a  mode  of  our 
Lord's  self-manifestation.  If  any  one  does  not 
believe  in  the  Real  Presence,   there  is  nothing 


RESERVATION    OF    BLESSED   SACRAMENT       227 

more  to  be  said.  But  when  such  belief  exists, 
experience  shows  the  tremendous  value  of  the 
devotional  approach  to  our  Lord  present  under 
the  forms  of  bread  and  wine.  Of  this  devotional 
use  we  will  not  willingly  be  deprived. 

In  conclusion  :  There  is  nothing  in  the  formu- 
laries of  the  Church  to  which  we  belong  which 
forbids  the  reservation  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament. 
And  inasmuch  as  such  reservation  has  been  an 
universal  practice  in  the  Catholic  Church  at  all 
times,  there  w^ould  seem  to  be  no  need  of  any 
special  legislation  concerning  it.  The  danger  is 
lest  attempted  legislation  should  contravene  Cath- 
olic practice  and,  being  null  from  the  beginning, 
simply  plunge  us  into  confusion.  It  is  at  present 
within  the  right  of  the  priest,  having  cure  of 
souls,  to  reserve  the  sacrament  under  such  con- 
ditions as  shall  enable  him  to  fulfil  his  spiritual 
obhgations  to  them.  As  to  the  permissibility  of 
special  services  of  devotion  to  our  Lord  present 
in  the  Sacrament,  the  question  ought  not  to  be 
complicated  by  importing  into  it  our  eucharistic 
beliefs  or  disbeliefs,  but  should  be  decided  on  the 
general  ground  of  the  permissibility  of  any  serv- 
ice not  put  forth  by  the  Church  or  licensed  by  the 
ordinary.  Of  course,  the  ordinary  may  now  li- 
cense a  service  of  Benediction  on  the  same 
grounds  as  those  on  which  he  would  license  a 


228       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

service  for  a  Social  Service  meeting  or  a  meeting 
of  the  Brotherhood  of  S.  Andrew.  But  such 
private  acts  of  devotion  as  grow  out  of  the  fact 
of  the  reservation  of  the  Sacrament  in  such  places 
that  the  faithful  may  approach  it,  in  their  very 
nature  as  acts  of  private  devotion,  need  no  auth- 
orization. 

Note. —  Two  recent  books  are  to  be  commended.  "  The 
Reserved  Sacrament,"  by  Darwell  Stone,  D.D.,  is  a  brief 
but  exceedingly  able  discussion  of  the  whole  case  of  res- 
ervation. "  The  Sacrament  Reserved,"  by  W.  H.  Free- 
stone, M.A.  (Alcuin  Club  Collections),  is  a  thorough  sur- 
vey of  the  evidence  for  reservation  during  the  early  and 
middle  ages  of  the  history  of  the  Church.  It  is  indispen- 
sable to  any  study  of  the  subject.  Both  books  bear  the 
American  imprint  of  the  Young  Churchman  Co. 


XXIII 

ESSENTIALS  OF  CONTINUITY  IN  THE 
MINISTRY 

XN  this  matter  of  continuity  in  the  Christian 
Ministry,  as  in  all  other  matters  relating 
to  the  Christian  religion,  it  is  well  for  us  to  re- 
member that  it  is  not  what  we  think  or  like  that 
is  important,  but  what  are  the  facts.  It  is  not  a 
question  as  to  what  kind  of  a  ministry  we  would 
devise  if  we  were  founding  a  church,  but  what 
kind  of  a  ministry  did  Christ  institute  in  the 
Church  that  He  founded.  The  story  is  told  of 
an  old  man,  of  liberal  theological  views,  that, 
after  hearing  an  old-fashioned  Presbyterian  min- 
ister preach  on  a  Hell  of  literal  fire  and  brim- 
stone, he  remonstrated  with  the  preacher  on  the 
ground  that  people  would  not  tolerate  such  a  Hell 

as  that. 

The  Kingdom  of  God  is  not  a  democracy,  but 
a  Kingdom ;  and  in  that  Kingdom  God  is  both 
King  and  Law-maker.  We  may  not  like  to  have 
it  so,  but  so  it  is.     The  question  before  us  then  is  : 

229 


230       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

what  kind  of  a  ministry  has  God  instituted  to 
carry  on  the  work  of  His  Church  on  earth? 

From  the  earhest  days  of  the  Christian  Church, 
as  we  learn  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  the  fol- 
lowers of  Christ  endeavored  to  continue  not  only 
in  the  "  Apostles'  doctrine,'*  but  also  in  the 
"  Apostles'  fellowship."  In  other  words  they 
submitted  themselves  only  to  ministers  who  were 
in  succession  from  the  Apostles  of  Christ. 
Apostolic  succession  is  a  somewhat  formidable 
phrase,  but  it  expresses  a  very  simple  idea.  As 
the  Father  sent  His  Son  Jesus  Christ  unto  the 
world,  so  the  Son  sent  forth  His  Apostles  with 
Divine  authority  and  promised  to  be  with  them 
"  all  the  days,  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 
The  powers  which  they  exercised, —  such  as  the 
powers  of  ordaining  to  the  ministry,  consecrating 
the  Eucharist,  and  absolving  from  sin, —  were 
bestowed  upon  them  by  Christ  Himself;  and  those 
same  powers  they  conferred  upon  their  suc- 
cessors, the  Bishops  and  the  Presb3^ters  or  Priests 
upon  whom  they  laid  their  hands.  No  man 
henceforth  might  presume  to  exercise  such  pow- 
ers in  the  Church,  unless  he  were  duly  ordained 
by  some  Bishop  in  this  line  of  Apostolic  Succes- 
sion, 

Strictly  speaking,  the  Apostolic  Succession  is 
not  a  line  but  a  net.     Each  Bishop  must  be  con- 


CONTINUITY   IN    THE    MINISTRY  23 1 

secrated  by  at  least  three  other  Bishops,  just  as 
each  loop  in  a  net  adjoins  several  other  loops. 
If  the  ApostoHc  succession  were  simply  a  line  of 
Bishops,  and  it  could  be  proven  that  one  Bishop 
in  the  line  was  an  impostor  and  had  never  really 
been  consecrated,  the  whole  subsequent  line  would 
be  invalidated.  A  net  however  is  very  different 
from  a  line.  Just  as  one  imperfect  loop  cannot 
destroy  the  whole  net,  so  one  counterfeit  Bishop 
cannot  weaken  the  authority  and  powers  of  the 
whole  succession  of  Bishops  throughout  the 
world.  It  requires  very  little  historical  proof  to 
show  that  the  Bishops  of  the  Catholic  Church  in 
the  twentieth  century  are  in  direct,  tactual  suc- 
cession from  the  original  Apostles. 

The  fundamental  question  at  issue  to-day  be- 
tween the  two  great  groups  of  Christians,  Cath- 
olic and  Protestant,  is  whether  the  authority  of 
the  Christian  ministry  is  from  heaven  or  of  men. 
Catholics  hold  that  the  episcopate  and  the  priest- 
hood derive  their  authority  from  above.  The 
authority  to  minister  has  come  down  from 
Christ  through  His  Apostles  to  the  clergy  of 
every  age.  Protestants  hold  that  their  ministers 
derive  their  authority  to  preach  and  administer 
the  sacraments  from  the  congregation  of  Chris- 
tian men.  According  to  the  Protestant  theory  it 
would  not  be  essential  that  a  man  should  be  or- 


232       THE   RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

dained  by  the  laying  on  of  a  Bishop's  hands.  It 
would  be  sufficient  if  he  were  set  apart  and  com- 
missioned by  the  congregation. 

If  we  study  the  early  history  of  the  Church  as 
contained  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  we  are  im- 
pressed by  the  fact  that  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  of  Apostles  is  always  insisted  on  before 
any  man  can  be  allowed  to  exercise  the  ministry. 

This  Apostolic  recognition  was  regarded  as 
proof  that  the  man  had  a  mission  from  Christ 
Himself.  The  early  Christian  Fathers,  such  as 
S.  Clement  of  Rome,  S.  Ignatius  of  Antioch,  and 
S.  Irenaeus,  bear  witness  to  the  continuance  of 
this  principle  in  the  age  immediately  following 
that  of  the  Apostles.  The  early  heretical  sects, — 
such  as  the  Montanists,  the  Novationists,  the 
Donatists,  and  the  Arians, —  however  far  they 
may  have  departed  from  the  Apostle's  doctrine, 
never  permitted  any  departure  from  the  principle 
of  historic  succession  from  the  three-fold  Apos- 
tolic ministry  of  Bishops,  Priests,  and  Deacons. 
Throughout  the  early  Christian  centuries, —  in 
fact  down  to  the  age  of  the  Reformation, —  we 
find  everywhere  prevalent  the  same  idea  as  to  the 
essentials  of  continuity  in  the  Christian  ministry. 
The  universality  of  this  idea  argues  some  power- 
ful authority  behind  it;  either  the  express  com- 
mands of  Christ  to  His  Apostles  during  the  great 


CONTINUITY    IN    THE   MINISTRY  233 

Forty  Days,  or  the  leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Otherwise  some  other  kind  of  ministry  would 
have  cropped  up  here  and  there,  as  being  equally 
serviceable  to  the  Church. 

The  position  taken  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer  ranges  us  definitely  on  the  Catholic  side 
of  this  controversy.  It  cannot  be  seriously  ques- 
tioned that  the  Prayer  Book  provides  for  the 
making,  ordaining,  and  consecrating  of  Deacons, 
Priests,  and  Bishops;  and  that  these  are  the  only 
kinds  of  ministers  who  are  permitted  regularly 
to  minister  to  our  people.  The  Preface  to  the 
Ordinal  bears  testimony  to  the  Church's  convic- 
tion that  these  three  orders  of  ministry  are  no 
mediaeval  nor  modern  invention,  but  date  from 
the  time  of  the  Apostles : 

"  It  is  evident  unto  all  men  diligently  reading 
Holy  scripture  and  ancient  Authors,  that  from  the 
Apostles'  time  there  have  been  these  Orders  of 
Ministers  in  Christ's  Church, —  Bishops,  Priests, 
and  Deacons.  Which  offices  were  evermore  had 
in  such  reverend  estimation  that  no  man  might  pre- 
sume to  execute  any  of  them,  except  he  were  first 
called,  tried,  examined,  and  known  to  have  such 
qualities  as  are  requisite  for  the  same;  and  also 
by  public  Prayer,  with  imposition  of  Hands,  were 
approved  and  admitted  thereunto  by  lawful  Au- 
thority.    And  therefore,  to  the  intent  that  these 


234       THE   RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Orders  may  be  continued  and  reverently  used  and 
esteemed  in  this  Church,  no  man  shall  be  accounted 
or  taken  to  be  a  lawful  Bishop,  Priest,  or  Deacon 
in  this  Church,  or  suffered  to  execute  any  of  the 
said  Functions  except  he  be  called,  tried,  examined, 
and  admitted  thereunto  according  to  the  Form  here- 
after following,  or  hath  had  Episcopal  Consecra- 
tion or  Ordination." 

Article  XXIII  is  equally  explicit  in  forbidding 
any  kind  of  a  minister  to  officiate  in  our  churches, 
who  has  not  been  properly  ordained  by  lawful 
Bishops : 

"  It  is  not  lawful  for  any  man  to  take  upon  him 
the  office  of  public  preaching,  or  ministering  the 
Sacraments  in  the  Congregation,  before  he  be  law- 
fully called,  and  sent  to  execute  the  same.  And 
those  we  ought  to  judge  lawfully  called  and  sent, 
which  be  chosen  and  called  to  this  work  by  men 
who  have  public  authority  given  unto  them  in  the 
Congregation,  to  call  and  send  Ministers  into  the 
Lord's  vineyard." 

When  a  priest  is  instituted  into  a  new  cure, 
the  following  is  the  opening  sentence  in  one  of 
the  prayers  which  the  Bishop  is  authorized  to 
use: 

"  O  Holy  Jesus,  who  hast  purchased  to  thyself 
an  universal  Church,  and  hast  promised  to  be  with 


CONTINUITY   IN    THE    MINISTRY  235 

the  Ministers  of  Apostolic  Succession  to  the  end 
of  the  World." 

A  further  indication  of  the  Church's  teaching 
on  this  subject  is  to  be  found  in  the  requirement 
of  the  General  Canons  that  no  person  may  of- 
ficiate in  any  of  our  congregations  without  suf- 
ficient evidence  of  his  being  duly  licensed  or 
ordained  to  minister  in  this  Church.  Moreover 
the  Canons  expressly  provide  for  the  admission 
to  our  ministry  of  such  ministers  as  have  already 
been  ordained  by  Bishops  not  in  communion  with 
this  Church.  Thus  the  Canons  doubly  emphasize 
the  necessity  of  valid  ordination  to  the  ministry 
by  lawful  Bishops. 

It  may  surprise  some  people  to  learn  that  the 
Prayer-Book  is  so  definite  and  restrictive  on  this 
subject  of  the  ministry.  The  Church's  attitude 
would  doubtless  appear  to  them  intolerant  and 
bigoted,  not  to  say  arrogant.  They  would  be 
inclined  to  ask  what  difference  it  could  make 
whether  a  Christian  minister  had  been  ordained 
by  a  Bishop  in  succession  to  the  Apostles  or  not, 
provided  he  were  a  good  man.  In  answer  we 
must  say  that  it  is  simply  a  question  as  to  whether 
a  man  has  or  has  not  been  authoritatively  com- 
missioned to  represent  Christ  and  His  Church. 
It  is  not  at  all  a  question  of  moral  character  nor 


236       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

of  intellectual  ability,  nor  even  of  spiritual  at- 
tainments. A  Christian  minister,  who  has  not 
been  episcopally  ordained,  may  be  a  better  man 
morally,  a  wiser  and  more  highly  educated  man, 
a  more  eloquent  preacher,  and  better  equipped  in 
spiritual  discernment  than  many  priests  of  the 
Church.  He  has  not  however  been  given  author- 
ity to  make  the  bread  and  wine  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ,  to  bless  in  His  name,  nor  to 
absolve  a  penitent  sinner.  Indeed  the  ministers 
of  non-episcopal  churches  do  not  claim  to  possess 
these  powers.  They  claim  simply  that  they  have 
been  given  by  the  Holy  Spirit  the  power  to 
preach,  to  be  the  spiritual  leaders  and  moral  teach- 
ers of  their  people,  to  baptize  and  to  administer  a 
rite  which  merely  commemorates  the  death  of  our 
Saviour.  These  powers,  we  should  all  be  willing 
to  admit,  have  undoubtedly  been  given  to  them  by 
the  Holy  Spirit.  Their  ministry  is  often  richly 
blessed,  and  results  in  leading  many  to  forsake  sin 
and  to  be  devout  and  earnest  followers  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Our  Church  retains  the  historic,  three-fold, 
Apostolic  ministry  because  that  has  always  been 
the  authoritatively  commissioned  ministry  of  the 
Holy  Catholic  Church.  We  wish  to  feel  some 
security  that  we  are  connected  with  the  normal 


CONTINUITY   IN    THE   MINISTRY  237 

channels  of  grace  and  truth  flowing  from  Christ 
Himself.  Our  government  at  Washington  is 
very  scrupulous  about  dealing  with  foreign  na- 
tions only  through  their  accredited  representa- 
tives. If  a  man  came  from  London  and  tried  to 
conduct  official  business  with  our  President,  on 
the  ground  that  he  was  quite  as  good  a  man  as  the 
British  Ambassador,  and  indeed  a  little  wiser  and 
more  suited  to  voice  the  real  sentiment  of  the 
British  people,  it  does  not  require  much  imagina- 
tion to  picture  how  that  man  would  be  received. 
The  President  deals  only  with  the  official  repre- 
sentatives of  the  British  government.  In  like 
manner  we  cling  to  the  ministers  of  Apostolic 
Succession,  because  we  desire  the  assurance  that 
our  ministers  are  indeed  the  ambassadors  of 
Christ. 

This  view  as  to  what  is  essential  for  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  Christian  ministry  is  the  view  that 
was  held  throughout  Christendom  for  fifteen 
centuries  after  Christ.  It  may  be  called  the  Cath- 
olic view.  There  have  been  two  famous  attempts 
to  destroy  or  pervert  this  view  of  the  ministry. 
Protestantism  in  the  sixteenth  century  abolished 
the  Episcopate  and  taught  that  Christian  minis- 
ters derived  their  authority  to  minister  from  the 
congregation.     Roman  Catholicism  in  the  nine- 


238       THE    RELIGION    OF    THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

teenth  century  taught  that  the  Pope  is  the  supreme 
ruler  of  the  Church,  and  the  source  of  all  minis- 
terial power  and  jurisdiction.  Both  of  these  the- 
ories of  the  ministry  are  many  centuries  too  late 
to  be  true. 


XXIV 

THE  PRIESTHOOD 

^y^HATEVER  men  may  think  about  the 
\Jy  necessity  of  having  priests  in  the  Church, 
■ —  and  there  have  been  many  violent  controver- 
sies in  the  past  on  this  question, —  there  are 
probably  few  modern  Christians  who  would 
refuse  to  believe  in  the  Priesthood  of  our  Lord. 
That  He  is  our  great  High  Priest  is  a  truth  so 
firmly  imbedded  in  the  New  Testament,  and 
especially  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  that  one 
could  scarcely  deny  it  without  rejecting  the  au- 
thority of  the  New  Testament  as  a  whole. 

The  main  section  of  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, which  has  been  called  the  Epistle  of  Priest- 
hood, is  concerned  with  setting  forth  the  univer- 
sal and  sovereign  High  Priesthood  of  Christ,  and 
the  fulfilment  of  His  priestly  work.  Bishop 
Westcott,  in  his  commentary  on  this  Epistle, 
points  out  that  the  characteristic  teaching  of  the 
Epistle  on  the  Priesthood  of  Christ,  is  found  in 
the  Lord's  words  as  reported  by  S.  John  more 
distinctly  than  in  the  other  Gospels.     Thus  in  the 

239 


240       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Gospel  according  to  S.  John,  the  Lord  reveals 
His  victory  through  death;  and  He  shows  Him- 
self in  a  figure  as  at  once  Priest  and  victim.  (S. 
John  X,  1-21.)  Elsewhere  He  proclaims  that 
when  He  is  lifted  up  from  the  earth,  He  will 
draw  all  men  to  Himself  (XH,  32),  that  His  re- 
moval from  the  limitations  of  our  present  bodily 
existence  is  the  condition  of  His  Spiritual  gift 
(XVI,  7),  and  that  He  hallows  His  people  in 
Himself  (c.  XVH). 

The  idea  is  no  less  familiar  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment that  the  Church,  the  mystical  Body  of 
Christ,  the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people, 
is  a  priestly  body.  Christ  is  still  carrying  on  His 
priestly  work  in  Heaven  and  on  earth  through  the 
Church,  which  is  His  body.  Therefore  all  the 
faithful  share  in  His  priesthood.  We  are 
'*  Kings  and  priests  to  God,"  "  an  holy  priest- 
hood," "  a  royal  priesthood,"  by  virtue  of  our 
being  sacranientally  united  to  the  great  High 
Priest  of  our  profession,  Jesus  Christ.  This  is 
what  is  meant  by  the  "  priesthood  of  the  laity,"  of 
which  we  hear  so  much  in  some  quarters.  The 
laity,  because  they  are  members  of  a  priestly 
body,  assist  the  body  in  the  exercise  of  its  priestly 
functions. 

The  Body  of  Christ,  however,  like  the  human 
body,  must  exercise  its  functions  through  special 


THE    PRIESTHOOD  24I 

organs  or  members.  The  function  of  priesthood, 
the  offering  of  the  eucharistic  sacrifice,  the  con- 
tinual remembrance  through  re-presentation  of 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Cross,  is  exercised  through  the 
ministerial  priesthood.  Those  who  have  been 
set  apart  through  prayer  and  ordination  to  carry 
on  the  priestly  functions  of  the  whole  priestly 
body,  are  quite  reasonably  designated  as  priests. 
They  are  not  priests  in  the  sense  that  they  offer 
sacrifices  of  slain  animals  and  of  the  fruits  of 
the  earth  on  behalf  of  others  separated  from 
them  by  an  impassable  gulf,  as  were  the  priests 
of  the  Jewish  dispensation  and  the  various 
heathen  cults.  They  are  simply  priests  in  the 
sense  that  the  one  High  Priest  of  the  new  cove- 
nant through  their  ministry  pleads  before  God 
the  one  sacrifice  of  Himself  once  offered.  They 
are  the  hands  of  the  Body  of  Christ,  offering  to 
God  the  holy  gifts  which  He  has  commanded  us 
to  offer. 

Etymologically,  the  word  priest  is  merely  a 
modified  form  of  the  word  presbyter,  derived 
from  the  Greek  word  for  elder.  In  Wycliff's 
Bible,  the  word  priest  is  used  where  in  Tyndale 
and  the  Authorized  Version  the  word  elder  is 
used.  In  pre-Reformation  England  the  word 
presbyter  gradually  became  abbreviated  into  the 
word  priest.    After  the  Reformation,  there  was  a 


242       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

marked  tendency  to  return  to  the  word  presbyter. 
That  explains  what  Milton  meant  when  he  said, 
'*  New  Presbyter  is  but  old  Priest  writ  large." 
In  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer,  both  the  terms 
presbyter  and  priest  are  used  to  designate  the  sec- 
ond in  rank  of  the  clerical  orders,  between  the 
bishop  and  the  deacon. 

From  the  earliest  times  in  the  Church,  the  office 
of  presbyter  has  been  regarded  as  a  sacerdotal 
office,  in  that  it  confers  power  to  consecrate  the 
bread  and  wine  in  the  Eucharist  and  to  declare 
absolution.  Therefore,  taking  into  cognizance 
the  general  European  use,  we  may  say  that  the 
title  presbyter  came  to  be  used  in  all  languages 
as  synonymous  with  sacrificing  priest, —  in  Greek 
icper?,  and  in  the  Latin  sacerdos.  This  has  been 
true  of  all  the  great  historic  Churches  of  Chris- 
tendom. To  quote  from  the  Centrry  Dictionary, 
under  the  word  priest: 

"  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  teaches  that  it  is 
the  office  of  a  priest  *  to  offer,  bless,  rule,  preach, 
and  baptize.'  These  same  offices  are  assigned  to 
priests  in  the  Orthodox  Church  and  other  Oriental 
churches  and  in  the  Anglican  Church.  In  the 
church  last  named  the  form  of  ordination  gives  au- 
thority to  forgive  or  retain  sins  and  be  a  dispenser 
of  the  word  and  sacraments,  and  only  priests  (in- 
cluding bishops  as  in  priest's  orders)  can  give  bene- 


THE    PRIESTHOOD  243 

diction,  pronounce  absolution,  and  consecrate  the 
eucharist." 

In  popular  usage  to-day  the  word  priest  is  used 
mostly  by  those  who  hold  the  Catholic  theory  of 
the  ministry,  and  the  word  clergyman  or  minister 
by  those  who  hold  the  Protestant  theory. 
Among  certain  classes  of  Protestants  the  word 
preacher  is  the  one  most  commonly  used. 
Speaking  strictly,  however,  and  without  preju- 
dice, there  is  no  more  reason  why  any  one  should 
object  to  the  term  priest  than  to  the  terms 
bishop  or  deacon.  And  to  use  the  term  presbyter 
is  simply  to  beat  the  priest  around  the  bush,  and 
meet  him  again  face  to  face.  As  for  the  words 
clergyman  or  minister,  they  are  perfectly  good 
words,  and  no  one  need  be  ashamed  to  apply 
them,  as  they  are  meant  to  be  applied,  as  compre- 
hensive terms  to  designate  all  the  sacred  orders, 
whether  bishops,  priests  or  deacons.  Even  the 
despised  word  preacher  has  its  use,  when  that 
is  precisely  what  we  mean. 

Belief  in  the  priesthood  is  the  characteristic 
that  distinguishes  the  Catholic  theory  of  the  min- 
istry from  the  Protestant.  We  are  safe  there- 
fore in  laying  down  the  general  principle  that 
wherever  we  find  priests  we  are  in  a  Catholic 
church,  and  wherever  we  do  not  find  them  we  are 


244       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

in  a  Protestant  Church.  For  some  unaccount- 
able reason  Protestants  abhor  the  very  idea  of 
priesthood. 

With  this  distinction  in  mind  we  open  the  Book 
of  Common  Prayer,  and  we  at  once  detect  its 
CathoHc  flavor.  We  find  that  the  second  of  the 
ordination  services  is  called  "'  The  Form  and 
Manner  of  Ordering  Priests."  Elsewhere  in  the 
rubric  of  the  Prayer  Book,  especially  in  the  Order 
for  Holy  Communion,  it  is  frequently  directed 
that  the  priest  shall  do  or  say  certain  things.  It 
is  true  that  the  term  minister  is  also  used  very 
freely ;  but  it  is  used  only  for  such  functions  as 
may  be  performed  by  a  deacon  or  a  lay-reader  as 
well  as  by  a  priest.  It  is  also  used  in  many  places 
as  a  comprehensive  term  to  include  the  bishop  as 
well  as  priests  or  deacons.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  that  the  Prayer  Book  sanctions  the  designa- 
tion of  the  second  order  of  the  ministry  as  priests, 
and  therefore  ranges  itself  definitely  among  the 
liturgies  and  service-books  and  formularies  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 


© 


XXV 

MATRIMONY 

ROADLY  speaking,  there  are  two  views  of 
marriage  current  in  the  modern  world :  the 
secular  and  the  religious  view.  A  good  many 
controversies  on  the  subject  might  be  avoided,  if 
people  would  first  state  which  of  these  two  views 
they  hold. 

According  to  the  secular  view  marriage  is 
merely  a  temporary  partnership  between  a  man 
and  a  woman,  with  no  religious  significance  and 
no  spiritual  implications.  They  enter  into  con- 
tract relations  with  each  other  before  an  officer 
of  the  state  and  two  witnesses,  just  as  anyone 
might  make  a  contract  to  rent  a  house.  If  either 
or  both  should  fail  to  live  up  to  the  terms  of  the 
contract,  the  contract  may  be  dissolved  and  each 
of  the  parties  may  be  free  to  marry  again.  Most 
advocates  of  this  view  naturally  see  no  reason 
why  the  marriage  relation  should  be  continued 
when  it  proves  distasteful  to  either  party.  When 
the  wife  becomes  middle-aged  and  loses  her  phys- 
ical charm,  the  husband  need  have  no  compunc- 

245 


246       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

tion  in  throwing  her  aside  and  marrying  a  girl 
in  the  freshness  of  early  youth. 

According  to  the  religious  view,  marriage  is  a 
sacramental  union  of  a  baptized  man  and  a  bap- 
tized woman,  which  is  dissoluble  only  by  death. 
It  is  sacramental  in  that  it  is  a  means  of  grace. 
The  man  and  the  woman  in  this  case  are  the  min- 
isters of  the  sacrament.  When  they  pledge  them- 
selves before  witnesses  to  be  loving  and  faithful 
to  one  another  until  they  are  parted  by  death,  the 
Holy  Spirit  infuses  into  them  the  gifts  of  grace 
which  will  enable  them,  so  long  as  they  co-oper- 
ate with  the  Holy  Spirit,  to  fulfil  their  duties  to 
one  another  and  to  any  children  that  may  be  given 
them. 

S.  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  speaks 
of  marriage  as  a  great  mystery,  like  the  relation 
of  Christ  and  His  Church.  The  love  of  hus- 
bands for  their  wives  should  correspond  to  the 
love  of  Christ  for  the  Church.  He  sacrificed 
Himself  for  it,  to  hallow  it,  to  present  it  to  Him- 
self, and  to  keep  it  holy.  Christ's  love  for  His 
Church  is  that  of  a  husband  for  his  bride.  Just 
as  Christ  and  the  Church  are  one  Body,  so  hus- 
band and  wife  become  one  flesh.  Moreover  in  an 
ideal  marriage  the  wife  would  reverence  her  hus- 
band with  something  of  that  same  reverence 
which  the  Church  shows  towards  Christ. 


MATRIMONY  247 

The  Christian  view  of  marriage  is  nothing  if 
not  idealistic.  It  presents  to  the  world  a  high 
and  noble  ideal,  which  obviously  cannot  be  lived 
up  to  without  the  continual  help  of  Divine  grace. 
But  the  grace  is  given  at  the  very  moment  when 
the  vows  are  taken.  The  actual  results  in  many  a 
Christian  household  are  sufficient  evidence  that  a 
superhuman  power  has  operated  through  sacra- 
mental marriage  to  restrain  and  soften  and  en- 
noble and  beautify  the  characters  of  men  and 
women.  Dr.  F.  W.  Foerster  has  given  eloquent 
expression  to  this  conclusion  in  his  admirable 
book  on  '*  Marriage  and  the  Sex  Problem " 
(p.  72): 

"Since  Christianity  develops  man's  capacity  for 
self-forgetful  devotion  to  the  highest  extent,  it  has 
in  every  direction  enriched  and  deepened  the  sexual 
emotions.  What  was  love  in  the  heathen  world 
compared  to  the  love  of  Dante,  Petrarch,  and  many 
another  since?  The  well-de^^eloped  soul  which 
confines  itself  to  the  Hmits  of  the  loyalty  and  re- 
sponsibility of  which  it  knows  its  need,  and  restrains 
the  Eros  from  asserting  itself  at  the  expense  of 
Character,  receives  back  again,  with  thousandfold 
increase,  all  which  it  may  have  seemed  to  lose ;  nay, 
it  develops  its  own  truest  life  to  its  fullest  fruit 
and  escapes  the  emptiness  and  vanity  of  the  sensu- 
ous world.     It  may  be  said  indeed  that  the  responsi- 


248       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

bility  which  reHgion  laid  upon  the  sexual  relation- 
ships of  men  and  women  became  converted  into  a 
new  tenderness,  and  the  self-denial  which  it  de- 
manded from  unchastened  passion  turned  into  a 
new  capacity  for  love  and  devotion." 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  Protestantism  has  in- 
creasingly led  its  adherents  away  from  this  ideal- 
istic, religious  view  of  marriage  in  the  direction 
of  the  secular  view.  Those  who  have  played  fast 
and  loose  with  their  marriage  vows,  and  desire 
to  enter  again  upon  the  marriage  relationship,  can 
always  find  some  kind  of  a  Protestant  minister 
who,  for  a  consideration,  will  be  glad  to  pro- 
nounce them  man  and  wife.  The  Catholic 
Church, —  whether  Roman,  Orthodox,  or  Angli- 
can,—  has  in  the  main  stood  unflinchingly  for  the 
stricter  ideal  of  marriage  as  set  forth  in  the  Gos- 
pel. 

The  form  for  the  "  Solemnization  of  Matri- 
mony," in  the  Prayer  Book  tells  us  that  marriage 
was  "instituted  of  God";  that  "it  is  not  to  be 
entered  into  unadvisedly  or  lightly;  but  rever- 
ently, discreetly,  advisedly,  soberly,  and  in  the 
fear  of  God."  The  persons  w^ho  are  to  be  mar- 
ried are  solemnly  warned  "  that  if  any  persons 
are  joined  together  otherwise  than  as  God's  Word 
doth  allow,  their  marriage  is  not  lawful."     The 


MATRIMONY  249 

VOWS  made  by  the  contracting  parties  are  made 
for  life,  "  so  long  as  ye  both  shall  live."  They 
take  each  other  to  have  and  to  hold  "  till  death  us 
do  part."  After  the  prayers,  the  minister  is  di- 
rected to  join  their  right  hands  together,  and  say, 
"  Those  whom  God  hath  joined  together  let  no 
man  put  asunder."  Can  any  one  seriously  doubt 
that  the  Prayer  Book  teaches  the  indissolubility 
of  marriage? 

It  may  be  said  that  the  clear-cut  position  of  the 
Prayer  Book  as  to  the  indissolubility  of  marriage 
is  inconsistent  with  the  actual  practice  that  we 
find  in  the  American  part  of  the  Church  to-day. 
It  is  true  that  the  canons  of  the  Church,  as  passed 
by  the  General  Convention,  now  make  it  possible 
for  the  innocent  party  in  a  divorce  granted  by  the 
court  on  the  ground  of  adultery  to  marry  again, 
providing  it  is  not  within  the  year  after  the  di- 
vorce was  granted.  This  canonical  law  is  based 
upon  our  Lord's  words  in  St.  Matthew,  XIX,  9, 
"  Whoever  shall  put  away  his  wife,  except  it  be 
for  fornication,  and  shall  marry  another,  com- 
mitteth  adultery ;  and  whoso  marrieth  her  which 
is  put  away  doth  commit  adultery."  There 
has  been  much  controversy  as  to  the  inter- 
pretation of  these  words.  It  has  been  main- 
tained by  many  that  the  clause  "except  it  be 


2'50       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

for  fornication  "  applies  to  sins  of  the  woman 
that  may  have  been  committed  before  marriage. 
It  has  also  been  maintained  that  the  clause 
is  an  interpolation,  as  it  is  not  found  in  the 
other  reports  of  our  Lord's  words  given  us  in  the 
other  Gospels.  It  is  an  anomalous  situation,  that 
we  should  find  the  advocates  of  modern  Biblical 
criticism  claiming  that  this  phrase  is  an  interpo- 
lation and  therefore  that  there  is  no  authority  in 
our  Lord's  words  for  the  breaking  of  the  matri- 
monial bond  under  any  circumstances ;  and  on  the 
other  hand  that  we  should  find  old-fashioned  and 
orthodox  churchmen  who  object  to  modern  crit- 
ical methods  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Bible, 
claiming  that  this  passage  should  be  retained,  and 
therefore  opening  the  way  for  those  who  believe 
that  marriage  is  sometimes  dissoluble.  Thus  we 
see  many  Catholic  churchmen  believing  in  the  in- 
dissolubility of  marriage  and  adhering  to  the  text 
that  makes  their  position  impossible,  and  many 
Broad  churchmen  reconstructing  the  passage  in 
a  way  which  entirely  condemns  their  own  laxity 
in  sometimes  performing  the  marriages  of  di- 
vorced people. 

The  whole  problem  is  by  no  means  a  simple 
one.  Undeniably  in  the  early  Church  there  was  a 
very  free  use  of  the  power  of  dispensation,  which 
made  possible  in  many  cases  the  remarriage  of 


MATRIMONY  25 1 

divorced  people.  Origen,  though  condemning 
such  laxity,  recognized  the  fact  that  some  bishops 
in  his  time  would  allow  a  divorced  husband  or 
wife  to  remarry  while  the  separated  party  was 
still  living.  The  Ninth  Canon  of  Illiberris  allows 
a  woman  who  has  left  an  adulterous  husband  and 
married  another  to  be  restored  to  communion, 
after  the  death  of  her  first  husband;  and  even 
sooner  in  case  of  necessity,  without  requiring  her 
to  break  with  her  new  partner.  The  modern 
Roman  Church  uses  the  power  of  dispensation 
very  freely,  annulling  many  marriages  for  a  vast 
number  of  causes,  and  thus  practically  giving 
consent  to  many  divorced  people  to  remarry. 

Perhaps  the  simplest  way  out  of  the  difficulty 
would  be  to  return  to  the  practice  of  the  early 
Christian  centuries,  by  which  all  marriages  were 
performed  by  the  state,  and  then  the  parties 
united  in  matrimony  went  to  the  Church  to  receive 
a  blessing  upon  their  union.  This  would  obviate 
the  necessity  of  any  ecclesiastical  disciplinary 
regulations  as  to  who  should  be  permitted  to 
marry,  and  the  Church  could  give  her  blessing 
merely  to  those  who  were  baptized,  and  living  in 
a  state  of  grace,  and  had  not  violated  the  precepts 
of  the  Gospel  in  regard  to  marriage. 


XXVI 
CEREMONIAL 

XT  is  quite  possible  to  over-estimate  the  place 
and  value  of  ceremonial  in  the  services  of 
the  Church ;  it  is  equally  possible  and  much  more 
common  to  assume  that  ceremonial  is  a  matter  of 
taste,  the  outcome  of  a  love  for  the  archaic,  to 
which  a  normal,  healthy-minded  modern  person 
will  naturally  feel  no  attraction  and  in  which  he 
will  see  no  use.  People  who  are  ruled  by  what 
they  call  common  sense  class  the  ceremonialist 
(whom,  by  the  way,  they  usually  miscall  the  ritu- 
alist) with  the  harmless  faddists  who  collect 
snuff-boxes  or  fans  or  uncut  editions.  But  one 
cannot  get  rid  of  ceremonial  quite  so  easily. 
In  conducting  the  services  of  the  Church,  or  any 
other  public  function  for  that  matter,  it  is  never  a 
question  of  ceremonial  or  no  ceremonial,  but  of  a 
choice  between  good  ceremonial  and  bad.  The 
most  extreme  opponent  of  ''  ritualism,"  when  he 
conducts  matins  or  celebrates  the  Lord's  Supper 
is  compelled  to  use  ceremonial.     It  will  no  doubt 

be  atrocious,  but  it  will  be  all  the  more  obtrusive. 

252 


CEREMONIAL  253 

The  solemn  vespers  of  a  ''  ritualistic  "  parish  will 
be  simplicity  itself  compared  with  the  weird  gyra- 
tions of  a  "  popular  vespers  "  in  some  "  broad  " 
parish.  Go  to  certain  well-known  churches  and 
watch  the  elaborate  ceremonial  which  accom- 
panies the  process  of  getting  the  collection  taken 
up  and  placed  upon  the  altar  and  you  will  realize 
how  much  ingenuity  can  be  expended  in  the  per- 
formance of  a  very  simple  act  in  an  utterly 
meretricious  way.  The  attitude  of  the  cere- 
monialist  is  that  there  are  certain  appropriate  and 
certain  inappropriate  ways  of  performing  the 
services  of  the  Church,  and  that  you  have  not 
avoided  being  *'  a  ritualist  "  when  you  have  care- 
fully performed  them  all  in  the  wrong  way. 

Nor  have  you  achieved  the  much  misunder- 
stood quality  of  simplicity.  Simplicity  in  a  serv- 
ice is  not  the  absence  in  a  service  of  ceremonial, 
but  the  absence  of  *'  fussiness."  Services  which 
we  are  all  familiar  with,  in  which  several  persons 
in  the  church  or  sanctuary  are  clearly  quite  uncer- 
tain as  to  how  the  services  are  to  be  conducted, 
or  who  is  going  to  perform  this  or  that  part, 
where  there  is  endless  moving  about  and  whisper- 
ing, are  not  simple  whatever  else  they  may  be. 
It  is  no  doubt  a  popular  superstition  that  one  is 
conducting  a  service  simply  if  one  is  conducting 
it  as  though  it  were  something  quite  new,  that  as 


254       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

yet  has  no  precedent  in  the  manner  of  its  per- 
formance. This  is  not  new  in  the  Christian 
Church.  Tertullian,  a  good  many  centuries  ago, 
pointed  out  for  the  behoof  of  certain  anti-cere- 
moniahsts  of  his  day,  that  disorder  and  simpHcity 
are  not  the  same  thing. 

All  public  services  are  necessarily  ceremonious. 
They  consist  of  certain  acts  that  have  to  be  per- 
formed by  certain  people  in  co-operation.  Sim- 
plicity is  attained  when  there  are  understood  ways 
of  performing  these  acts  which  are  known  to  the 
people  who  are  taking  part  in  them.  I  was  never 
more  impressed  with  the  need  and  the  value  of 
ceremonial  than  in  watching  a  dress  parade  at 
West  Point.  One  felt  that  the  difference  be- 
tween a  mob  and  an  army  was  greatly  a  matter 
of  ceremonial.  The  elaborate  rehearsal  which 
takes  place  before  a  "  fashionable ''  wedding  in 
places  where  ceremonial  is  abhorred  emphasizes 
the  fact  that  if  any  public  act  is  to  be  done  de- 
cently it  must  be  settled  beforehand  hozv  it  is  to 
be  done.  The  simplicity  of  a  service  consists  not 
in  there  being  few  and  simple  acts  done,  but  in 
whatever  is  done  being  done  with  such  ease  and 
smoothness  that  the  actual  way  of  the  doing  of 
them  may  be  as  little  obtrusive  as  possible. 

However,  simplicity  is  not  the  chief  quality  to 
be  aimed  at  in  the  performance  of  public  worship. 


CEREMONIAL  255 

Worship  needs  to  be  rendered  with  decency  and 
dignity  and  with  such  ceremonial  adjuncts  as  will 
emphasize  and  impress  its  meaning.  What  these 
shall  be  will  naturally  be  determined  by  the  cere- 
monial tradition  of  the  Church,  that  tradition  be- 
ing the  outcome  of  centuries  of  experience.  Any 
one  even  slightly  familiar  with  the  matter  of 
ceremonial  in  its  historical  development  under- 
stands that  the  ceremonies  of,  say,  a  solemn  mass 
are  as  far  as  possible  from  being  the  "  whims  " 
and  '*  fads  "  of  "  rituaHsts,"  but  are  the  result 
of  centuries  of  thought  and  experience,  and  that 
they  aim  at  the  setting  forth  of  the  service  of  God 
in  a  manner  that  is  at  once  glorious  and  signifi- 
cant. Back  of  the  ceremonial  development  is  the 
conviction  that  the  appeal  of  worship  is  not  ex- 
clusively to  an  intelligence,  but  to  a  human  being 
in  all  his  complexity ;  that  it  is  the  function  of  a 
public  act  of  worship,  not  only  to  impress,  but  to 
arouse  and  to  move  to  action.  Therefore  the 
appeal  of  worship  is  to  the  emotions  and  will,  as 
well  as  to  the  intellect.  Ceremonial  services  ad- 
dress the  eye  as  well  as  the  ear.  There  is  no 
reason  why  the  sense  of  beauty  should  not  be 
appealed  to  by  means  of  color  or  music  or  rhyth- 
mic motion  as  well  as  the  intellect  by  words. 
Worship  is  an  act  a  human  being  directs  to  God ; 
public  worship  is  the  corporate  act  of  the  Body 


256       THE    RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

of  Christ  in  a  certain  place,  and  as  a  corporate 
act  must  have  been  agreed  upon  beforehand, 
that  is,  must  be  ceremonial;  and  the  ceremonial 
should  be  such  as  will  express  the  nature  of  an 
approach  to  the  divine  Majesty,  and  such  as  will 
stir  us  to  a  better  appreciation  of  our  dependence 
upon  God  and  our  obligation  to  Him. 

There  are  those  who  contend  that  the  rubrics 
of  the  Prayer  Book  furnish  a  sufficient  guide  to 
the  performance  of  the  services;  but  one  has  only 
to  try  to  conduct  any  service  on  the  basis  of  the 
sufficiency  of  the  rubrics  to  find  that  this  is  not 
true.  Open  the  Prayer  Book  at  the  "  Order  for 
daily  Morning  Prayer."  What  is  the  officiant  to 
wear  ?  Where  is  he  to  read  the  office  ?  What  is 
to  be  his  position?  What  is  the  position  of  the 
congregation?  It  is  needless  to  go  on  to  prove 
what  is  so  obvious  as  that  it  is  impossible  to  con- 
duct any  Prayer  Book  service  if  the  rubrics  are 
to  be  our  sole  guide.  The  classical  instance  of 
rubrical  failure  is  found  in  the  Baptismal  Office 
where  the  minister  is  directed  to  *'  take  the  child 
into  his  hands  " ;  —  what  is  the  subsequent  fate 
of  the  baby? 

Of  course  it  will  be  said  that  such  difficulties 
are  purely  imaginary;  that  the  minister  does  as 
matter  of  fact  say  Morning  Prayer  somewhere, 
and  that  he  does  not  continue  to  hold  the  baby  be- 


CEREMONIAL  257 

cause  the  rubrics  fail  of  exhaustive  direction. 
Such  matters  are  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  min- 
ister. It  was  thoroughly  impressed  upon  me  in  the 
seminary  by  the  late  bishop  of  Connecticut  that 
"  what  was  left  to  the  discretion  of  the  minister 
was  left  to  the  indiscretion  of  the  man."  It  is  no 
doubt  true  that  if  the  rubrics  fail  to  tell  you  what 
to  do  you  will  still  do  something.  My  point  is 
not  at  all  that  action  will  be  arrested  where  ru- 
brics fail.  I  am  merely  interested  to  demonstrate 
the  impossibility  of  the  position  that  the  rubrics 
of  the  Prayer  Book  are  sufficient  guide  to  the  ren- 
dering of  its  services  and  that  we  need  nothing 
more. 

Plainly  we  do  need  something  more  than  that ; 
what  shall  be  the  source  of  it?  Are  we  just  to 
supply  what  we  need  out  of  our  own  heads? 
Are  we  to  wear  what  we  please,  stand  where  we 
please,  kneel  or  stand  or  sit  when  we  please? 
That,  of  course,  is  a  conceivable  attitude  —  the 
attitude  of  individual  anarchy  —  but  it  is  hardly 
worth  while  arguing  about  it.  I  fancy  that  there 
are  many  who  would  describe  themselves  as  not 
caring  for  much  or  for  *'  advanced  "  ceremonial, 
who  would  hold  that  there  is,  as  matter  of  fact, 
a  traditional  way  of  performing  services  which, 
while  it  does  not  govern  all  details,  does  ensure 
a  certain  uniformity  and  dignity.     I  believe  the 


258       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

extent  of  this  uniformity  can  be  easily  exag- 
gerated; but  aside  from  that  this  attitude  is  feel- 
ing after  a  true  principle,  the  principle  that  the 
rubrics  are  not  a  maximum  of  direction,  but  a 
minimum,  and  that  the  reason  that  they  do  not 
attempt  fully  to  direct  the  performance  of  the 
services  is  that  the  clergy  are  assumed  to  know 
how  to  perform  them. 

Fifty  years  ago  in  the  American  Church  there 
was  no  doubt  a  fair  amount  of  uniformity  in 
the  rendering  of  the  services.  An  irreducible 
minimum  had  been  arrived  at  by  the  gradual 
abandonment  of  ceremonial  acts  and  practices  for 
the  last  three  centuries.  This  minimum  of  cere- 
monial had  become  settled  into  a  tradition  which 
it  has  proved  rather  difficult  to  displace.  Why 
then  displace  it  ?  For  two  reasons.  ( i )  Because 
it  is  inadequate  as  an  expression  of  the  meaning 
of  the  services.  (2)  Because  it  is  not  the  cere- 
monial tradition  which  is  back  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  but  the  tattered  remnant  of  it 
after  three  centuries  of  imported  Protestantism 
has  done  its  worst. 

The  meaning  of  ceremonial  is  that  it  should 
interpret  and  beautify  the  acts  of  worship  with 
which  it  is  joined.  Evening  Prayer  said  plain 
is  one  thing;  solemn  evensong  with  proper,  that 
is,  traditional  ceremonial  adjuncts, —  cope,  lights, 


CEREMONIAL  259 

incense, —  is  another :  this  is  quite  obvious,  all 
question  of  liking  or  disliking  aside.  The  Eu- 
charist as  celebrated  in  some  of  our  churches,  the 
priest  in  surplice  and  stole  and  his  acts  and  move- 
ments governed  by  no  ascertainable  principle, 
makes  a  very  different  impression  from  even  a 
low  celebration  with  traditional  vestments  and 
ceremonial.  There  are  those,  no  doubt,  who  are 
indifferent  to  such  things;  but  those  who  value 
them,  value  them  because  they  seem  to  them  to 
enhance  the  dignity  and  solemnity  of  the  acts  in 
which  they  are  participating  and  enable  them  to 
express  their  own  attitude  toward  God  in  the  act 
of  worship.  The  business  of  a  service,  among 
other  things,  is  to  teach;  and  it  is  found  that  the 
teaching  power  of  a  solemn  celebration  is  in  fact 
very  great. 

The  advocate  of  ceremonial  believes  that  there 
was  a  perfectly  definite  system  of  ceremonial 
back  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  when  it  was 
first  issued,  and  that  the  insufficiency  of  the  ru- 
brics is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  every  priest 
was  supposed  to  have  sufficient  knowledge  of 
ceremonial  to  enable  him  to  render  the  services 
as  they  had  been  rendered.  Those  who  put  forth 
the  first  Book  of  Edward  VI  undoubtedly  in- 
tended the  old  ceremonies  to  be  continued  because 
they  did  not  direct  that  any  other  should  be  tised, 


26o      THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

and  something  had  to  be  done.  The  Ornaments 
Rubric  of  the  Enghsh  Book  directs  the  retention 
of  ancient  and  customary  ceremonial;  this  gov- 
erns the  use  of  the  Church  of  England.  The 
fact  that  no  equivalent  was  put  in  the  American 
Book  does  not  mean  that  the  old  ceremonies  are 
forbidden;  it  means  rather  that  they  had  been 
forgotten,  and  that  the  new  minimum  ceremonial 
of  the  eighteenth  century  was  assumed  as  of 
common  knowledge. 

Does  this  assumption  of  the  American  Prayer 
Book  rule  out  the  revival  of  the  ceremonial  usages 
of  the  past?  Not  if  we  take  the  Church's  own 
appeal  to  the  past  seriously.  The  contention  of 
the  Anglican  Communion  has  always  been  that  all 
particular  Churches  must  be  constantly  criticised 
in  the  light  of  Holy  Scripture  as  interpreted  by 
the  old  Catholic  Doctors.  When  you  apply  that 
test  to  the  Churches  of  the  Anglican  communion 
of  the  eighteenth  and  the  first  half  of  the 
twentieth  centuries  you  find  that  the  reduction 
of  ceremonial  was  the  reflection  of  a  correspond- 
ing reduction  of  Catholic  belief  and  practice  in 
other  respects.  To  mention  but  one  instance: 
you  find  a  very  insufficient  grasp  on  the  meaning 
of  the  Incarnation  and  its  application  to  life 
through  the  sacraments.  When  you  watch  the 
history  of  the  Catholic  movement  in  England  in 


CEREMONIAL  26 1 

the  nineteenth  century  you  speedily  become  aware 
that  the  ceremonial  revival  which  accompanied 
it  was  not  the  work  of  faddists  and  sentimental- 
ists or  the  imitation  of  a  foreign  religious  sys- 
tem, but  that  it  was  inspired  by  the  new  appre- 
ciation of  the  meaning  of  the  Incarnation  and  of 
its  application  through  the  sacraments,  and,  in- 
deed, of  a  growing  appreciation  of  CathoHc  the- 
ology as  a  whole.  Men  did  not  introduce  cere- 
monial because  they  happened  to  fancy  it,  but  be- 
cause they  had  become  possessed  of  certain  truths 
which  demanded  not  simply  intellectual  but  also 
emotional  expression.  They  found  this  expres- 
sion in  the  beauty  and  symbolism  of  ceremonial. 

And  they  found  it  not  as  a  thing  newly  in- 
vented; but  just  as  they  discovered  Catholic  the- 
ology in  the  formularies  of  the  Church  the  mean- 
ing of  which  had  been  to  a  great  extent  ignored, 
so  they  found  that  the  appropriate  symbolic  and 
ceremonial  comment  on  doctrine  was  embodied 
in  the  ancient  ceremonial  of  the  Church  —  that 
ceremonial  which  the  compilers  of  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer  had  assumed  as  the  common 
knowledge  of  all  the  clergy.  The  services  of  the 
Church  as  they  were  rendered  in  the  middle  of 
the  nineteenth  century  were  like  a  jewel  which 
had  been  torn  out  of  its  setting;  the  new  school 
of  churchmen  sought  to  recover  the  old  setting 


262       THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

and  replace  the  jewel.     The  result  has  been  a 
gain  in  significance  and  splendor. 

A  system  of  ceremonial  is  not  something  in- 
vented off-hand;  it  is  the  product  of  the  experi- 
ence of  centuries.  It  has  grown  and  is  contin- 
ually being  modified.  This  fact  is  stated  as  fol- 
lows in  the  preface  of  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  "  The  Church  of  England  .  .  .  hath, 
in  the  Preface  of  her  Book  of  Common  Prayer, 
laid  it  down  as  a  rule,  that  '  The  particular  forms 
of  Divine  Worship,  and  the  Rites  and  Ceremonies 
appointed  to  be  used  therein,  being  things  in  their 
own  nature  indifferent  and  alterable,  and  so  ac- 
knowledged, it  is  but  reasonable  that  upon 
weighty  and  important  considerations,  according 
to  the  various  exigencies  of  times  and  occasions, 
such  changes  and  alterations  should  be  made 
therein,  as  to  those  who  are  in  the  place  of  au- 
thority should,  from  time  to  time,  seem  either 
necessary  or  expedient.'  "  The  desire  for  uni- 
formity in  ceremonial  is  a  quite  modern  thing. 
The  Middle  Ages  show  a  great  variety  of  cere- 
monial, and  at  the  time  of  the  Reformation  there 
were  still  a  variety  of  **  uses  "  in  England  which 
no  doubt  represented  a  considerable  variety  of 
ceremonial.  The  gradual  disuse  of  the  tradi- 
tional ceremonial  during  the  seventeenth  and 
and  eighteenth  centuries  was  governed  by  no  prin- 


CEREMONIAL  263 

ciple  of  the  right  of  particular  churches  to  alter 
ceremonies  —  it  was  not  a  thing  authorised  by 
authority  at  all  —  it  was  simply  the  result  of 
growing  laxity  and  indifference  in  religion. 
Ceremonies  were  in  fact  dropped,  not  because 
people  thought  them  **  Romish,"  or  because  they 
preferred  "  a  simple  service,"  but  because  they 
disbelieved  or  were  indifferent  to  all  that  the 
ceremonies  symbolised. 

When  in  the  nineteenth  century  the  Catholic 
Revival  brought  in  its  train  a  revived  interest  in 
ceremonial  there  was  unfortunately  no  proper 
guidance  in  the  matter  of  the  restoration  of  the 
the  lost  ceremonies.  As  ceremonies  had  been 
dropped  on  individual  initiative,  so  were  they 
now  restored.  This  had  its  unfortunate  features 
and  led  to  a  chaotic  state  of  things,  ceremonially 
speaking.  But  it  was  inevitable.  It  is  the  ordi- 
nary human  way  of  doing  things.  Leaders  very 
rarely  lead.  They  are  usually  pushed.  In  fact, 
changes  in  the  ceremonial  of  the  Church,  the  in- 
troduction of  new  services,  festivals,  etc.,  have 
very  rarely  been  done  from  the  initiative  of  au- 
thority. They  have  originated  in  local  needs  and 
circumstances,  and  when  containing  a  popular 
appeal  have  spread  and  prospered  until  authority 
has  been  compelled  to  recognise  them.  It  was 
so  with  the  ceremonial  restoration  of  the  nine- 


264       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

teenth  century.  It  began  because  men  here  and 
there,  recognising  the  deep  meaning  of  the  offices 
of  the  Prayer  Book,  felt  the  need  of  emphasising 
and  objectifying  that  meaning  through  symboHc 
action.  A  deep  conception  of  the  meaning  of 
priesthood  and  sacrifice  leads  inevitably  to  the 
need  to  express  one's  belief  in  the  ceremonial  ad- 
juncts of  the  Eucharist. 

But  after  two  centuries  and  more  of  the  disuse 
of  ceremonial  what  was  to  guide  the  revival? 
At  that  time  no  one  really  knew  the  details  of 
ancient  English  use.  They  did  know  that  the 
fundamental  principles  of  ceremonial  are  the 
same  in  all  times,  and  they  selected  from  ancient 
and  contemporary  use  such  things  as  seemed  to 
them  apposite.  Hence  a  good  deal  of  diversity 
in  detail  in  the  ceremonial  in  use  in  various  par- 
ishes to-day.  I  am  not  sure  that  the  tears  which 
are  shed  over  this  are  not  wasted.  "  Different 
forms  and  usages  may  without  offence  be  al- 
lowed, provided  the  substance  of  the  Faith  be 
kept  entire,"  the  Preface  of  the  Prayer  Book 
says.  The  assumption  of  many  minds  that  all 
things  ought  to  be  utterly  alike  in  all  places  seems 
to  rest  on  nothing  but  the  temper  of  the  said 
minds  —  as  they  are  made  that  way  we  need  not 
quarrel  with  them.  In  the  course  of  time  no 
doubt   authority   will   recognise   that   something 


CEREMONIAL  265 

has  taken  place  and  will  regulate  it.  I  do  not 
know  that  we  need  regret  the  continued  delay  in 
the  coming  of  that  time.  The  longer  those  who 
do  not  know  keep  their  hands  off,  the  more  op- 
portunity there  will  be  for  those  who  try  to  know 
to  arrive  at  an  intelligent  agreement.  In  the 
meantime  those  of  us  who  rejoice"  in  that  blessed 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free  "  view 
the  existence  of  a  certain  variety  in  worship 
"  without  offence,"  **  provided  the  substance  of 
the  Faith  be  kept  entire." 


XXVII 

FASTING  AND  ABSTINENCE 

^^5^  HE  progress  of  which  we  hear  so  much  as 
^^y  having  marked  the  last  century  was  mainly 
a  progress  in  the  mastery  of  the  material  world. 
As  it  affects  the  life  of  the  average  man  it  does 
so  by  putting  within  his  reach  a  great  number  of 
appliances  which  minister  to  the  ease  and  comfort 
of  his  life.  Things  which  in  the  beginning  are 
luxuries  soon  end  in  becoming  necessities  in  the 
sense  that  the  lack  of  them  is  sorely  felt.  Our 
ancestors  got  on  very  well  without  ice-boxes;  to 
us  the  lack  of  them  would  be  intolerable. 
Twenty  years  ago  the  automobile  was  the  luxury 
of  the  select  few;  to-day,  high  and  low,  rich  and 
poor,  find  it  indispensable  to  the  comfortable  con- 
duct of  life.  From  the  standpoint  of  the  padded 
life  we  look  back  and  shudder  at  the  sufferings 
and  deprivation  of  our  ancestors.  Those  suffer- 
ings exist  largely  in  our  imaginations.  Born  to 
a  certain  kind  of  life  they  led  it  with  at  least  as 
much  joy  as  we  lead  ours.     What  has  actually 

happened  is  that  for  the  last  century  the  world 

266 


FASTING   AND   ABSTINENCE  267 

has  been  becoming  more  and  more  enslaved;  for 
we  are  the  slaves  of  whatever  is  to  us  indispens- 
able. 

With  all  the  modern  appliances  for  comfort 
and  convenience  within  reach  it  has  become  in- 
creasingly inconceivable  to  the  modern  man  that 
discomfort  or  inconvenience  or  pain  of  any  sort 
can  be  other  than  an  injustice  or  a  nuisance. 
Comfort,  not  to  say  self-indulgence  and  luxury, 
has  become  the  primary  aim  of  life.  It  is  an  aim 
that  has  gained  the  support  of  many  of  our  mod- 
ern religious  and  moral  guides.  To  be  sure 
these  guides  still  denounce  "  luxury  "of  some 
sort ;  but  mainly,  it  turns  out,  of  a  sort  that  is  not 
practiced  in  circles  where  they  move.  They  are 
all  quite  agreed  that  ''  asceticism  "  is  a  thing  to 
be  abhorred.  They  may  not  denounce  fasting; 
they  may  go  no  farther  than  the  English  bishop 
who  lately  spoke  of  it  as  "  innocuous." 

Such  an  attitude  toward  fasting  draws  a  sharp 
line  between  the  ancient  and  the  modern  world. 
Fasting  has  been  an  universal  element  in  the 
religious  practice  of  the  past.  Back  of  it,  I  sup- 
pose, lies  the  sense  of  sin,  a  sense  of  being  out 
of  harmony  with  whatever  power  or  person  was 
conceived  to  be  responsible  for  human  life,  and  to 
whom  human  life  is  accountable.  This  lack  of 
harmony,  this  disorder  of  nature,  was  felt  to  have 


268       THE   RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

its  seat  to  a  great  degree  in  the  passions,  and 
their  unruliness  and  tendency  to  revolt  against 
accepted  principles  of  life  were  the  plain  evidence 
of  the  power  of  sin.  Dealing  with  sin,  then, 
meant  dealing  with  our  unruly  passions. 

But  the  analysis  went  deeper  than  that,  ivlan, 
so  it  was  held,  was  a  spiritual  being,  but  the  pow- 
ers of  his  spiritual  nature  must  express  them- 
selves through  his  physical  nature.  Thought, 
meditation,  prayer  are  spiritual  acts,  but  their 
successful  operation  depends  on  the  state  of  our 
physical  nature.  Extreme  indulgence  of  physical 
passions  and  appetites  unfits  a  man  for  the  life 
of  the  spirit  —  his  spiritual  nature  is  hindered  in 
its  efforts  at  expression.  But  this  inhibition  of 
the  spirit  does  not  arise  solely  in  cases  of  what 
we  should  call  abuse  of  our  physical  nature;  it 
arises  in  some  degree  under  circumstances  which 
we  should  consider  quite  normal  and  innocent. 
Every  one  knows  that  the  time  immediately  after 
a  hearty  meal  is  not  favorable  to  mental  or  spir- 
itual effort.  On  the  other  hand,  any  one  knows, 
or  may  know  by  trying,  that  a  carefully  reduced 
diet  makes  mental  and  spiritual  work  easy.  A 
proper  discipline  of  the  physical  nature,  so  it  is 
held,  has  a  twofold  object:  (i)  By  withholding 
the  fuel  whereon  passion  is  nourished  it  tends  to 
diminish  sin.     (2)  It  does  this  ultimately  because 


FASTING    AND   ABSTINENCE  269 

It  removes  or  reduces  the  inhibitions  to  spiritual 
activity,  and  enables  the  will  to  control  the  pas- 
sions, which,  if  highly  stimulated,  would  prove 
too  strong  for  it. 

That,  roughly  enough  expressed,  is,  I  take  it,  a 
fair  account  of  the  theory  underlying  the  uni- 
versal custom  of   fasting.     This  practice  Chris- 
tianity found  rooted  in  the  Jewish  system  and 
took  over  as  a  part  of  the  practice  of  the  Church. 
I  am  not  aware  that  the  Church  initiated  any  new 
theory  of  fasting;  it  accepted  it  as  current  prac- 
tice and  added  to  it.     Our  Lord  assumed  that  His 
followers  would  fast  "  when  the  Bridegroom  was 
taken  from  them  " ;  the  Epistles  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament show  us  the  new-born  Church  engaged  in 
fasting  and  prayer.     Church  history  shows  us  an 
application  of  the  principle  of  fasting  in  the  grad- 
ual development  of  a  whole  calendar  of   fasts 
covering  the  entire  Christian  Year ;  Wednesdays, 
Fridays,  and  to  some  extent  Saturdays  were  set 
apart   as   fasts.     Fasts   were   established  before 
Christmas  and  Easter.     Vigils  were  kept  in  prep- 
aration for  feasts.     Men  fasted  as  a  preparation 
for  the   reception  of  the  sacraments.     And   in 
addition  to  all  this  was  the  prevalence  of  volun- 
tary fasting  as  a  method  of  self-discipline.     Fast- 
ing from  the  beginning  was  rooted  in  the  Chris- 
tian devotional  system,  and  nothing  better  indi- 


270       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

cates  the  utterly  self-willed  character  of  the  reli- 
gious systems  which  claim  to  be  in  a  special  sense 
"  biblical  "  than  their  repudiation  of  a  practice  so 
completely  biblical  in  its  character. 

"  We  have  outgrown  such  mediaeval  practices," 
is  the  usual  account  of  modern  laxity  in  the  mat- 
ter of  fasting.  To  call  it  mediaeval  is,  of  course, 
only  a  rhetorical  trick  to  discredit  it  in  the  mind 
of  the  unthinking.  It  is  not  in  the  least  a  true 
characterization  of  fasting  as  it  is  a  universal 
custom  from  early  times.  But  it  is  more  impor- 
tant to  challenge  the  assumption  that  we  have  out- 
grown the  need  of  fasting.  Is  it  true  that  the 
spiritual  level  of  the  twentieth  century  is  such  as 
to  indicate  that  it  can  dispense  with  fasting,  with 
asceticism  and  all  spiritual  discipline?  Is  the 
flesh  so  subdued  to  the  Spirit  in  the  average 
church-member  that  he  can  lay  fasting  aside  as 
a  remedy  no  longer  needed?  Have  the  sins  of 
the  flesh  died  out  or  become  so  infrequent  as  to 
be  negligible?  Have  spiritual  activities  become 
easy  and  unhindered  by  passion  or  appetite  ?  The 
student  of  modern  literature  or  the  observer  of 
modern  life  would  not  be  likely  to  draw  such 
conclusions. 

Indeed,  I  suppose  no  one  would  answer  these 
questions  in  the  afiirmative ;  what  would  be  said 
is  that  fasting  is  no  remedy  for  the  ills  complained 


FASTING   AND   ABSTINENCE  27I 

of.  I  am  content  to  appeal  to  the  assertion  of 
the  past,  and  especially  of  the  Christian  past  (as- 
sertions which  embody  an  age-long  experience) 
that  fasting  is  one  —  of  course  not  the  only  one 
—  but  one  of  the  remedies  and  a  very  effectual 
remedy.  My  purpose  does  not  really  carry  me 
further  than  this.  I  am  simply  insisting  that  the 
religion  of  the  Prayer  Book  is  a  religion  which 
takes  the  view  of  human  nature  that  I  have  been 
trying  to  expound  —  the  view  that  being  sinful 
and  inordinate  it  needs  discipline  and  control,  and 
that  one  of  the  means  for  attaining  such  disci- 
pHne  and  control  is  in  the  regular  practice  of  fast- 
ing and  abstinence;  and  that  as  a  guide  in  this 
matter,  and  that  the  individual  shall  not  be  left 
in  uncertainty  and  irregularity  of  self-choosing, 
the  Church  has  set  forth  a  certain  table  of  days 
and  seasons  of  fasting  and  abstinence. 

These  can  be  read  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer.  That  they  are  not  always  read  appears 
from  the  surprise  which  is  not  infrequently 
aroused  by  an  attempt  to  teach  the  obligation  of 
fasting.  It  is  within  the  experience  of  every  one 
who  is  accustomed  to  observe  the  law  of  the 
Church  in  this  matter,  that  the  practice  of  absti- 
nence is  attended  with  some  difficulty  in  the 
houses  of  those  who  are  commonly  denominated 
"  good  churchmen."     But  there  it  stands  in  the 


2^2       THE   RELIGION    OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

Book  of  Common  Prayer  — "  A  Table  of  Fasts  " 
' —  designating  Ash  Wednesday  and  Good  Friday 
as  days  of  fasting ;  and  going  on  to  specify  **  other 
days  of  fasting,  on  which  the  Church  requires 
such  a  measure  of  abstinence  as  is  more  especially 
suited  to  extraordinary  acts  and  exercises  of  de- 
votion." 

It  is  interesting  to  hear  from  time  to  time  the 
explanations  which  are  proffered  from  the  pul- 
pit and  elsewhere  as  to  the  meaning  of  fasting 
and  abstinence.  Of  course  when  the  table  in  the 
Prayer  Book  was  drawn  up  there  was  no  doubt 
in  any  man's  mind  what  is  meant  and  therefore 
no  need  of  any  explanation.  Fasting  meant  go- 
ing without  food.  It  did  not  mean  **  fasting 
from  sin,"  which  really  is  not  a  special  obliga- 
tion of  Ash  Wednesday  and  Good  Friday.  Ab- 
stinence meant  abstinence  from  flesh  food ;  it  did 
not  mean  abstaining  from  amusements,  though 
such  abstinence  is  quite  congruous  with  the  per- 
formance of  extraordinary  acts  of  devotion. 
Fasting  and  abstinence  mean  to-day  precisely 
what  they  did  when  the  table  in  the  Prayer  Book 
was  drawn  up.  It  is  not  permitted  to  substitute 
some  other  observance  which  we  think  '*  more 
suitable  to  our  modern  conditions  "  and  keep  the 
law  of  the  Church  to  which  we  belong. 

Aside  from  those  who  just  brush  the  obliga- 


FASTING    AND    ABSTINENCE  273 

tion  of  fasting  away  as  a  survival  of  a  religious 
system  with  which  they  have  no  sympathy  and 
do  not  conceive  that  they  are  at  all  bound  by  the 
laws  of  the  Church,  there  are  several  other  classes 
of  persons  in  the  Church,  whose  questioning 
about  fasting  shows  perplexity  rather  than  dis- 
loyalty. There  are  those  who  *'  cannot  fast  " — 
those,  that  is,  whom  fasting  makes  more  or  less 
uncomfortable.  That  would  not  seem  to  be  a 
reason  for  declining  the  practice.  One  of  the 
ends  of  fasting  is  the  discipline  of  the  appetite 
which  is  usually  attended  with  some  discomfort; 
and  there  is  good  medical  authority  for  the  as- 
sertion that  such  discipline  is  ordinarily  beneficial 
to  the  health.  Moreover,  the  assumption  that 
we  ought  to  do  nothing  which  will  interfere  with 
our  comfort  is  hardly  well  grounded. 

There  are  those  who  object  to  abstinence  on  the 
contrary  ground  that  it  does  minister  to  comfort. 
These  are  they  who  "  like  fish,"  or  to  whom  it  is 
no  hardship  to  go  without  meat.  It  has  to  be 
explained  to  such  that  the  obligation  of  a  day  of 
abstinence  is  not  to  eat  fish  or  any  other  kind  of 
food,  but  to  go  without  flesh  food.  There  are 
many  other  kinds  of  food  beside  fish  which  can 
be  eaten  on  such  days.  An  all-wise  Providence 
has  provided  that  the  string  bean  should  bear 
abundantly  in  all  seasons. 


274       THE    RELIGION   OF   THE    PRAYER   BOOK 

In  general,  we  may  say  in  reply  to  the  question, 
What  is  the  use  of  fasting?  that  obedience  to  the 
law  of  the  Church  of  which  we  are  members 
must  always  be  a  good  thing,  and  that  having 
obeyed  a  law  we  are  much  more  likely  to  find  the 
use  of  it  than  while  we  persist  in  disobedience. 
If  there  were  nothing  else  to  be  gained  than  the 
eliciting  of  an  act  of  obedience,  I  should  think 
fasting  altogether  justified.  In  a  time  when  self- 
will  and  self-assertion  are  rampant  the  subjuga- 
tion of  ourselves  to  an  obligation  of  this  sort  is 
most  desirable.  It  is  an  important  element  in  our 
education  that  we  should  be  brought  up  to  respect 
authority  and  to  act  because  we  are  told  to  act. 

But  the  law  of  fasting  is  not  a  meaningless 
demand  on  obedience.  It  is  in  itself  disciplinary. 
It  is  probably  true  that  as  a  whole  the  modern 
world  is  more  abstemious  than  the  ancient;  but 
there  is  still  room  for  improvement.  It  is  still 
true  that  gluttony  is  a  widespread  sin.  It  is  also 
true  that  many  common  sins  have  their  roots  in 
the  indulgence  of  the  appetite.  It  is  well  to  dem- 
onstrate our  self-control  in  the  matter  of  appetite, 
that  we  may  overcome  the  temptations  which  have 
their  seat  in  the  flesh. 

Lastly,  we  must  face  the  ascetic  principle  that 
self-control  is  not  ultimately  for  the  negative  rea- 
son of  repression  of  appetite  but  for  the  positive 


FASTING    AND   ABSTINENCE  27$ 

reason  of  the  release  of  spiritual  power.  If  it  is 
our  individual  experience  that  this  does  not  hap- 
pen in  our  case  there  is  something  the  matter 
with  us;  we  have  not  mastered  nor  properly  di- 
rected the  discipline.  The  experience  of  the 
saints  in  all  the  Christian  centuries  is  that  fasting 
and  abstinence  are  aids  to  devotion;  and  the 
Prayer  Book  in  prescribing  such  acts  is  wholly  in 
line  with  the  experience  of  the  past. 


THE  END 


Date  Due 

f 

0  21    *i\ 

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DEC  i     '64 

C  IiC  1  5^ 

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